October 5, 1903, Hailan Bubble (Blagoveshchensk).

A bearded, middle-aged white man with wide sideburns rushed out of the ground — from the basement exit to be exact — and waved his fist at the sky: "God told me, no, I will never surrender!" ”

He was surrounded by broken bricks, broken walls, waterlogged craters, muddy roads, and glazed soldiers.

Lieutenant General Grengelslo, commander of the 1st Russian Siberian Army, 49 years old, has a reputation in the Russian army for treating soldiers well, is very intelligent, participated in the writing of the military doctrine of 1902, and is also a sharp-eyed sharpshooter. But none of this will help him with the problem he is currently facing, which is: destruction, or surrender.

Two of his men, Major General Glasco, commander of the 1st Siberian Division, and Major General Zaremenko, commander of the 2nd Division, followed him out of the basement, with a bandage on his forehead and Zaremenko's arm hanging from his chest with a white cloth band.

"Commander, please calm down."

Glasco said, approaching Greengelslo, but the lieutenant general jumped away.

Grengelsloh roared at him viciously: "You traitor, you are willing to surrender to those lowly yellow people!" Have you forgotten? Your ancestors only brought a hundred men back then, and they slaughtered all the way from the mouth of the Shilka River to the mouth of the Amur River, and brought back no less than 3,000 pairs of ears, and those yellow people were destined to be destinable and useless, they only had the qualifications to be slaves, how could they be qualified to enjoy the joy of the victory of the conquerors! ”

Glasco hung his head, put his hands in his pockets, and replied in frustration: "Commander, after all, the affairs of our ancestors cannot solve the current problem, if we go back further, we were also the target of massacre and enslavement by the Mongols." ”

"Shut up! I didn't expect you to be so depressed......"

"Commander! Checkmate! ”

Zaremenko suddenly shouted loudly, and Greengelsloh turned his head to look at him, nodded at him, and signaled that he could speak.

Zaremenko stared at his superiors, his eyes were full of despair and sadness: "Eighteen days, Commander, we have no support, we are under heavy shelling and bombardment every day, the enemy is pressing forward step by step, all the outer positions have been lost, most of the fortifications on the core defense line are dilapidated, and the morale of the officers and soldiers is very low......"

Grenengszlo interrupted him by the throat: "Enough! How can you sing this cowardly tune over and over again in front of me without shame, you are a general of the Russian Empire, remember who you are, you are not a coward, you should be a heroic example! ”

"We have done our best, when the fortress was first surrounded, we still had 40,000 able-bodied officers and men, more than 4,000 killed in the first week, more than 3,000 in the second week, the wounded crowded the hospital, the medicine began to run out, my division had only 6,000 men left to fight until last night, a third of them were artillery and logistics, besides, the main ammunition depot of the fortress was also bombed the day before yesterday......"

Greengelslaw became even more indignant, he walked back and forth, his face flushed, waved his arms demonstratively, and unceremoniously reproached Zaremenko: "You only emphasize the difficulties!" Nothing you say is a big deal! No! What is the death in action! What are the wounded! Isn't the fortress still in our hands? Did they break us completely? Did they catch me? No! The First Army is still good, I'm still good, long live Russia, long live His Majesty the Emperor! You coward! Traitor! Damn, I really doubt that you are a spy of the Chinese, you are also white-skinned and blue-eyed! You're a nobleman! God will make you regret it! ”

Zaremenko was trembling with anger, and was about to retort when a thunderous explosion came from not far away, and the routine shelling of the Chinese army began, and the three generals stopped arguing and scrambled into the basement.

In a moment, several large craters emitting heat were added to the place where they had just stood.

In the basement, the earth fell from time to time, making everyone disgraced, and Lieutenant General Greengelsro had to put on his military hat, and he strained his face and burrowed into the next telegraph room, and two minutes later, he jumped out excitedly and cheerfully, waving a piece of paper in his hand, and shouted: "Reinforcements have arrived, the 11th Army has launched a full-scale attack from Moscow Vitino, and it will take three days to fight here!" ”

The sound of artillery outside greatly weakened the momentum of Greengelsroy when he reported the good news, to which Major General Glasco only nodded expressionlessly, while Major General Zaremenko snorted from his nose and muttered in a low voice: "An army cannot save us, I knew it two weeks ago." ”

Two weeks ago, the 1st Brigade of the 1st Janissary Division of the Chinese Army launched a counterattack against the 3rd Division of the 2nd Russian Siberian Army stationed in Belyozovka (see Chapter 69 for details), defeated the division with only 7,000 men left, captured Beryozovka, and then advanced 60 kilometers in three days, captured Belogorsk, a major transportation town northeast of Beryozovka, and threatened Svobodne, the headquarters of the Russian Siberian 1st Army from the southeast. The Russian army had to send a mixed force of 3,000 men from Svobodne to the village of Shereshevo, 17 kilometers northwest of Belogorsk, in an attempt to intercept the Chinese army there, but this force was completely defeated in the Chinese offensive on September 25, and the Russian army had to withdraw to the right bank (west bank) of the Jieya River, and blew up most of the bridges over the Jieya River, concentrating on the defense of Svobodne. On the other hand, in Moscow Vitino, south of Svobodne, the remaining 9,000 men of the Russian Siberian 4th Division and the remaining 7,300 men of the 4th Janissary Brigade of the Chinese Army faced each other on an intermittent front, and neither side was able to crush the other in one fell swoop.

By 26 September, the First Army of the First Russian Siberian Army was encircled at Blagoveshchensk (Hailanpao), the Third Division of the Second Army was almost destroyed, and the Fourth Division was firmly pinned down at Moscowvitino, more than 80 kilometers north of Blagoveshchensk, the fate of this army group seemed to have been decided, but the Chinese army's diversion on the Chita side (a word that can be used as a substitute for the less egnominious words such as retreat, defeat, and rout, see the Battle of Akinskoye in Chapter 75) allowed the Russian army to pass through the Trans-Siberian RailwayThe 11th Army from the Kazan Military District was transported to Svobodne, and on September 28, due to repeated attacks and obstructions by Chinese troops breaking diplomatic forces, this army departed from Nerchensk, 170 kilometers east of Chita, and took almost a week by train to reach Svobodne, 960 kilometers east of Chita. After the army arrived in Svobodne, it was immediately included in the operational sequence of the First Siberian Army, and under the order of Lieutenant General Shtakliberg, the commander of the army, except for leaving a part of the army to strengthen the defense of Svobodny, the main force immediately went to the Moscow Vitino front, and planned to defeat the 4th Janissary Brigade of the Chinese Army that was deployed outside the city of Moscow Vidino, and then break the encirclement of Blagoveshchensk (Hailanpao) from the north in three days, and drive the Chinese army to the left bank (east bank) of the Jieya River and the right bank of the Amur River (west bank).

The telegram waving in Greengszro's hand was coming from the army group headquarters, and Lieutenant General Shtakliberg told him that if he held out for another three or four days, reinforcements would arrive, at which point Chinese would be told to "jump into the water crying and swim back to his homeland......

Two of his subordinates were obviously not as optimistic as he was, but this did not prevent Greengelszloh from venting his excitement, and he immediately had champagne served and his cook called in, and with great interest arranged the dinner menu.

"Look, we still have so much good wine and delicious food to enjoy, what is there to worry about?"

Greengsloh said, making a small graceful turn of his wrist in the air, handing glasses filled with champagne to Glasco and Zaremenko.

"For Russia, for the sake of our great and merciful Tsar."

"For the ...... of Russia"

The rumbling sound of cannon outside completely drowned out the faint and worthless sound of clinking glasses.

Moscow Vitino, the position of the 4th Janissary Brigade of the Chinese Army.

The town in ruins in front of it, the rolling hills on the left, the surging Jieya River on the right, and a path hovering between the marshes and groves in the back, made it difficult for the enemy to outflank the position.

The front of the position was a trench more than two meters deep and a firing bunker of a civil structure, in which footrests, shoctings and ammunition holes were set up, and a hand-cranked pumping machine was set up every 200 yards to drain rainwater out of the trench. The trenches were not straight lines, but battlements that could be fired from the side, and in some important areas there were multi-faceted firing bunkers protruding from the trenches, in which machine guns and light rapid-fire guns could fire shrapnel at rifle rates. There were a total of second-line trenches on the front of the position, and several ring support points were set up behind the second-line trenches to protect heavy artillery positions, brigade headquarters and field warehouses.

On the left side of the position, that is, to the west, several solid ring support points were built on the hilly ground, and on the anti-slope of the hill were placed mortar and mountain artillery positions protected by bunkers, and the defenders were six companies from the 12th Janissary Regiment.

The front of the position and the left flank were connected by communication trenches to a depth of 1.7 to 2 meters.

Behind the position, the only road in the swamp was controlled by several firing bunkers equipped with machine guns and rapid-fire guns, connected by communication trenches, with additional points of concealed fire and two reinforced companies of defenders.

Beginning on September 23 and ending October 5, the Fourth Janissary Brigade had received 1,657 reservists and 31 reserve officers and trainee officers from the Janissaries' exclusive supplementary reserves, which brought the troops almost to full strength. In addition, the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 3rd Battalion of the Praetorian Cavalry Brigade were also assigned to the 4th Battalion for reconnaissance and mobile defense.

Brigade Commander Colonel Qian Zichen was born in the 92nd class of Lu University, participated in the First Sino-Japanese War as a trainee officer, and happened to be assigned to the 11th Regiment of the Fourth Guard Brigade as the deputy company commander of a certain company.

Early this morning, after Qian Zichen dressed carefully and quickly as he did when he was a student, drank a large cup of cold white boil that he had to use every day, nibbled half a large white flour steamed bun with pickles and beef jerky, and rode his millet mare, ready to go to the front line with Lieutenant Colonel Wang Shouzhong, the commander of the 11th Forbidden Regiment.

The experience of this day will surely make Qian Zichen unforgettable for the rest of his life.

※※※

The 45,000 men of the Russian Eleventh Army and the 8,900 men of the Fourth Division of the Second Siberian Army were preparing to launch a full-scale attack on the positions of the Fourth Brigade on that day.

On the operational map of the headquarters of the 1st Russian Siberian Army, three blue arrows point to a small red circle in front of Moscow Vitino, in which the abbreviation "Janissaries 4th Brigade" is marked in Russian letters.

The first arrow, from north to south, is a frontal attack, and the number of a number of troops is indicated after the arrow, mainly all of the 25th Infantry Division of the 11th Army and the remnants of the 4th Siberian Division, as well as four artillery battalions belonging to corps and group armies.

The second arrow, starting from Moscow Vitino, in a gentle curve, bypassed the frontal positions of the Chinese army and prepared to attack the left flank positions of the Forbidden 4th Brigade, which was led by two regiments of the 27th Infantry Division (105th and 106th) and two regiments of the 10th Cavalry Division (14th Lancer Regiment and 25th Cossack Cavalry Regiment).

The third arrow, west of Moscow Vitino, in a steep curve, bypassed the frontal and flank positions of the Chinese army, preparing to attack from the rear of the Forbidden 4th Brigade, which was manned by the Russian units of the 27th Infantry Division and two other regiments of the 10th Cavalry Division (the 18th Lancer Regiment and the 27th Cossack Cavalry Regiment).

The total strength of the Russian army scheduled for the offensive is 53,900 men, and the number of infantry battalions that can be put into the front line is forty, of which eight are not fully manned, and are equipped with 90 machine guns. The artillery consisted of forty-eight 152-mm heavy howitzers, twenty-four 152-mm mortars, sixty-four 87-mm light howitzers, one hundred and thirty-eight 76-mm rapid-fire field guns and twelve 47-mm cavalry guns, for a total of 286 pieces.

The target pointed by these three arrows, that is, the 4th Battalion of the Chinese Guards' Praetorian Infantry, had more than 9,100 troops that day, and the number of infantry battalions was 13 (including a brigade headquarters guard battalion), all of which were close to full strength, and two battalions of about 900 cavalry. The artillery included a 105-mm cannon battalion and a 90-mm howitzer battalion (18 guns per battalion) transferred from the army-affiliated artillery brigade, 18 90-mm light howitzers for the brigade artillery, a total of 18 75-mm mountain guns and nine 100-mm heavy mortars for the regimental artillery, and six regimental 57-mm cavalry guns for the cavalry units, for a total of 85 artillery pieces above the regimental level. The 4th Forbidden Brigade was equipped with 106 light and heavy machine guns, the same number of 60-mm mortars, and 18 80-mm mortars, and the cavalry unit attached to it also had 16 light and heavy machine guns and four 80-mm mortars.

Literally, the ratio of the strength of the Russian-Chinese armies is 5.4 to 1, the number of artillery (the Chinese army usually only counts the artillery above the regiment) is 3.4 to 1, and the ratio of the number of machine guns is about 1:14.

Lieutenant General Shtakliberg, commander of the First Russian Siberian Army, had great expectations for this battle, and decided to take command of the front line in person, and on October 4 he rushed to Moscow Vidino with a squad of staff officers, ready to witness "the complete destruction of one of the most elite Chinese brigades."

The Russian army carried out strict counter-reconnaissance measures before the offensive, covering the attacking troops with a tight cavalry curtain, and the troops only marched to the front line at night, and the artillery positions were carefully camouflaged and covered.

However, if the Chinese army was not aware of such a large-scale attack in advance, then God would have given the Russians too much face, in fact, God did nothing.

The position of the Russian 11th Army has always been in the hands of the Chinese army, and the 1st Army of the Chinese Army on the Chita side earlier discovered that the Russian 11th Army, which had tried to outflank the rear of the army, suddenly disappeared from the Russian camp in front of it, and then, the Chinese army's diplomatic detachment ambushed a vanguard of the 11th Army on the railway line east of Nerchensk (Nebuchu), and then the Chinese army's reconnaissance and diplomatic detachment repeatedly found or intercepted several other 11th Army units in locations further east, until recently, The Chinese army's long-range reconnaissance airships also spotted a number of trains entering Svobodne, and the number of wagons should have been more than a division.

Synthesizing information from all sides, the Northeast China Front Command concluded that it was very likely that the Russian army would launch a large-scale attack on the Janissary Field Army from Svobodny in the near future, and informed the Praetorian Guard Field Army of this conclusion, and issued a mildly worded order to General Liang Tianhe, commander of the Janissary Field Army, in the name of General Zhong Xiahuo, commander of the Front, asking the Praetorian Guard Field Army to pay close attention to the Svobodny direction and prepare for a large-scale attack by the Russian army. To ensure that the Russian army will not be able to break the encirclement of Hailan Bubble (Blagoveshchensk). After receiving this order, Liang Tianhe did not immediately transfer troops from the siege troops that were constantly pressing the fortress of Hailan Pao to strengthen the blocking positions in the direction of Moscow Vitino and Shereshevo, but ordered the 1st Janissary Brigade stationed in Shereshevo to move 25 kilometers to the west, deploy on the left bank (east bank) of the Jieya River, and build a pontoon bridge connecting with the right bank, so that the 1st Janissary Brigade could quickly cross the bridge if necessary to support the adjacent 4th Forbidden Brigade on the right bank, and vice versa. In addition, General Liang Tianhe also ordered the 4th Reserve Guards Division, which had just been replenished into the field army, to keep a brigade (10th Reserve Guards Brigade) in Sergeyevka, a bridgehead and supply hoarding and transshipment center on the left bank of the Amur River (east bank), 40 kilometers north of Hailanpao, as a mobile force, so as to prevent the Russian army from copying Sergeyevka and attacking the Chinese siege troops, and on the other hand, to divide troops to support the 4th Forbidden Brigade in Vitino in Moscow if necessary. The distance between Sergeyevka and Moskovino was about 60 kilometers, and there were bifurcated paths in between, which, after the renovation of the sappers, became the main supply and reinforcement route for the Forbidden Fourth Brigade.

In fact, he did not know when and how many troops the enemy would send to attack the positions of his brigade, otherwise he would not have run to the front line so leisurely early in the morning to inspect - suddenly a burst of artillery came over, and he might not have been dead or crippled for the rest of his life.

Qian Zichen and Wang Shouzhong walked side by side along the dirt road leading from the brigade headquarters to the regimental headquarters of the 11th Regiment in the right section of the second-line trench for a few minutes. The newly replenished reservists, all of whom were in their twenties, stood in rows on the flat ground outside the bunkers, and were lectured, reminded, and encouraged by the officers, and the Chinese Empire, with a population of 417 million (incomplete census data from 1902), was inexhaustible in terms of manpower compared to the European powers, with a population of only 10 million. If the European powers were to carry out a general mobilization in the future, and recruit all men between the ages of 18 and 45 who meet military standards, the actual reserve army that the Chinese Empire could mobilize could reach about 40 million—of course, it was impossible for the Empire to come up with weapons that could be used by 40 million people at this time.

The Jieya River flowed peacefully to the right of King Qian and the others, not caring at all who passed by it and what they would do.

Wang Shouzhong looked at the occasional whirlpool in the river, his eyes sad and misty.

Yesterday he had just received a death notice from the Ministry of National Defense with pine and cypress trims, and his third brother, Wang Zhijie, was unfortunately martyred on the night of 8 September when he led a torpedo boat unit to attack a Russian ship at the Vladivostok military port.

Wang Shouzhong is the eldest in the family, in addition to the two minor sisters, the three brothers of the Wang family have joined the army, and the second Wang Zhiyi is also in the navy, when he was the captain of the destroyer "Baixue". Wang Shouzhong is four years Chinese New Year's Eve old today, graduated from Lu University in the 92nd class of undergraduates, is Qian Zichen's classmate, also participated in the war as a trainee officer during the First Sino-Japanese War, but after the war on the Korean Peninsula subsided, he was transferred back to China to continue his studies, and his grades when he graduated in 1895 were second only to Qian Zichen, and he was promoted to lieutenant colonel eight years later, while Qian Zichen, who was in the same class, had served as a low-level sergeant in the first new army company prepared by Liu Yun of Wuwei Gong before being admitted to Lu University, and also contributed as a low-level officer in the Guangxingding case. So he went to the next level and became Wang Shouzhong's boss.

Wang Shouzhong didn't care about this, he felt that Qian Zichen's qualifications and abilities were indeed worthy of the honor and status he had obtained, and similarly, his current status was also consistent with his shallow qualifications and limited abilities. Moreover, in his opinion, as long as he can fight for the empire as a soldier, it is a great honor for him. His father arranged the names of the three brothers in order as "Loyalty", "Zhiyi", and "Zhijie", pinning good expectations on their future integrity and quality, obviously, expectations are not enough, education is the most important, the quality of the three brothers has been sublimated to the greatest extent under the strict and wise cultivation of their father, and they have all chosen the most direct way to serve the country when they grow up - to join the army and fight for the empire.

"The third brother really deserved to die."

On the night when he received the death notice, when Qian Zichen came to comfort Wang Shouzhong, Wang Shouzhong responded like this, and then went into the bedroom and did not come out again, until Qian Zichen sent someone to call him early the next morning and asked him to inspect the front line together, and he appeared in front of Qian Zichen with a haggard face.

One can pretend not to be in pain for a while, but pain does not exist because of this pretense.

"Akamatsu, are you okay?"

Qian Zichen noticed Wang Shouzhong's absent-mindedness, so he called him softly.

Red pine is Wang Shouzhong's expression.

Wang Shouzhong paused for a moment, hurriedly waved his hand and shook his head: "I have nothing to do, I really have nothing to do." ”

Qian Zichen didn't believe that he really had nothing to do: "But you ......"

Wang Shouzhong deliberately diverted the topic: "Sir, it's time to dismount, we have to go to the front line through the traffic trench, and if we go on horseback, we can only make live targets for others." ”

"We all know this......

Qian Zichen thought, understanding Wang Shouzhong's feelings, he didn't say anything, and obediently dismounted at the entrance of a shelter department as Wang Shouzhong said.

Suddenly, a low whistling sound came with the wind.

※※※

"Be careful!"

Wang Shouzhong shouted, and before the words fell, he had already pushed Qian Zichen into the bunker.

After a loud bang, the horse they had ridden just now had neighed and ran away, and gray and black smoke rose from far and near, and the smoke rose more than ten meters, and another whistling sound came, and the flash of shell explosion and smoke and dust densely covered the earth.

"Brigade commander, go back to the brigade headquarters, it seems that the enemy is about to launch a large-scale attack."

Wang Shouzhong shouted close to Qian Zichen's ear, but Qian Zichen shook his head.

"I'm going to go to the front and have a look."

Wang Shouzhong said categorically: "No, it's too dangerous!" ”

"At least I'm going to your regimental headquarters, I remember that there is an observation post on a high slope nearby, where you can observe the situation of the enemy's front."

Wang Shouzhong hesitated for a moment and agreed.

The guards of the two had already followed at this time, and they ran together along the communication trench to the command post of the 11th Regiment, and the Russian shells fell one after another, and the mud splashed by the explosion fell on the heads, shoulders, and backs of the two Qian Wang from time to time.

"Phew, I only had this outfit cleaned three days ago!"

Qian Zichen said indignantly, he ran at the front, and from time to time he was squeezed aside by a group of officers and soldiers pouring out of a certain fork in the road - they were rushing to the predetermined standby position from the rear shelter.

After being pushed out of the way three or four times, Qian Zichen and Wang Shouzhong finally rushed to the command post of the 11th Regiment, where a handful of staff officers were already seated, and they were orderly issuing combat readiness orders to a group of heralds in accordance with the plan.

Seeing the commander coming, the staff officers stood up and saluted, and Qian Zichen raised his hand to them: "You continue." ”

At this time, the regimental commander's staff officer reported to Wang Shouzhong: "Regiment commander, four companies have been arranged in the first-line positions in the regiment's jurisdiction, four companies in the second-line positions, and the remaining four companies are on standby in the predetermined standby positions, ready to move to the front line at any time. ”

"Knowing the way, did No. 2 observe all the findings?"

"We haven't received a report yet."

Wang Shouzhong nodded to him and turned to Qian Zichen: "Brigade commander, let's go there and see for ourselves." ”

"That's exactly what I meant."

Qian Zichen said, took a new type of binoculars from the guard's hand and hung it around his neck, followed Wang Shouzhong out of the regimental command post, along another deep communication trench to a dirt slope about 50 meters protruding from the surrounding ground, the No. 2 observation post set up at the top of the slope can clearly observe the situation of the Russian army's forward position three or four thousand yards away, there are three telegraph lines leading here, one of which is directly connected to the artillery command post of the brigade headquarters. The Russian army is obviously very aware of the important role of this commanding height, and the shells that fall around the top of the slope are unusually dense, but the Chinese army has also been prepared for a long time and has specially reinforced the observation post, the goal is to resist a single direct hit of the enemy's 152-mm heavy howitzer and is completely unaffected by various light and medium artillery of the Russian army.

However, the concentrated fire of the 152-mm heavy artillery still caused the two communication trenches leading to the observation post to collapse in many places, and the charred dust filled the observation and monitoring capacity of the observation post for the time being.

When the grizzled Qian Zichen rushed into the observation post with a multi-layered civil roof, two or three cats were scolding the observer on the opposite side with binoculars in front of the observation hole - they couldn't see anything clearly.

"I think I'm at the wrong time."

Qian Zichen shouted to Wang Shouzhong with a wry smile - the continuous huge explosions outside forced everyone to shout at the top of their voices.

"I have a solution."

Wang Shouzhong suggested very seriously.

"Oh?"

"Please return to the brigade headquarters now, the reports from other observation posts should be sent to the brigade headquarters."

Qian Zichen agreed this time, so he and Wang Shouzhong rushed back to the regimental command post first, and before entering the traffic trench leading to the brigade headquarters, he specially instructed Wang Shouzhong: "Pay attention to safety, forget about your brother for the time being today, and concentrate on your duties." ”

"Rest assured, I thought I had always had a clear distinction between public and private."

Wang Shouzhong responded, put his legs together, and saluted Qian Zichen with spirit.

Qian Zichen returned the salute and disappeared into the zigzag traffic trench with the guards in three steps and five steps.

An hour later, the Russian artillery fire did not stop, because of the strong north wind blowing that day, the Chinese army could not carry out the observation balloon raising operation, the airship could not be dispatched, and the smoke and dust caused by the artillery fire were all blown into the Chinese army's formation, and the Chinese army's long-range artillery was simply unable to carry out the calibration and suppression fire against the enemy's heavy artillery.

"The enemy is getting smarter, taking advantage of the weather against us - hmph, see how many people he can get to die."

Qian Zichen thought about it, pacing around in the bunker of the brigade command post, he didn't know how many enemies there were on the opposite side at this time, although he sent reconnaissance teams to the enemy front many times, but they were all blocked back by the enemy's tight cavalry patrol line, and the information revealed by the (Janissaries) Field Army Command was also vague, only saying that a division or more Russian troops had arrived in Svobodne, Qian Zichen could only estimate by himself, the enemy in front of him may have increased to about 25,000, but the actual number was more than twice what he estimated- The counter-reconnaissance measures of the Russian army have clearly had an effect.

Qian Zichen firmly believed that relying on the current strong position, his fully equipped and well-supplied Praetorian Guard Brigade should be able to withstand a full-scale attack by two to three times the enemy's army, and he also considered that the enemy army was more than three times or even more than five times that of his side, but he believed that the possibility of such a situation was very rare, and he believed that the commander of the army or front army should take measures to avoid this situation.

However, at that time, the commander of the field army, General Liang Tianhe, was mainly concerned about completing the order issued by Wuwei Gong to take the Hailanpao fortress in October, while the commander of the front army, General Zhong Xiahuo, was mainly concerned about the counteroffensive of the newly formed Chita Army (i.e., the First Army) against the Russian army on the Chita side.

In addition, since the Battle of Beryozovka and the First Moscow Vitino, from the field army headquarters to the base camp, everyone was very satisfied with the performance of the Janissaries in defensive battles, and it was generally believed that the Russian army would not be able to cross the positions garrisoned by the Janissaries in any case, and the myth of the invincibility of the Janissaries gradually became a reality, and this myth did not become widespread from the beginning of this war.

"The forbidden brigade is building a pontoon bridge over the Jieya River, and it should be completed before dark, and everything will be worry-free if it lasts until dark."

After returning to the brigade command post, Qian Zichen also had such thoughts, but he did not think that his troops would be beaten so badly that they would not be able to hold out without reinforcements from friendly forces.

"Why hasn't the enemy attacked?"

After the shelling lasted for an hour and a half, Qian Zichen couldn't sit still, he felt that he shouldn't wait like this any longer, so he sent two cavalry reconnaissance teams to search due south and southwest respectively. Qian Zichen did not think that it was very dangerous for his brigade to be cut off by the enemy, because it was actually possible for him to get in touch with the forbidden 1st brigade on the opposite bank through the Jieya River, and in addition, the position of the 4th Forbidden Brigade could be covered by favorable terrain on the left flank and rear, and even if this position was encircled, it would be difficult for the enemy to break through from the flank and rear direction of the forbidden 4th brigade.

Even with such thoughts, Qian Zichen is not at all easy, the position of the Fourth Forbidden Brigade is very critical, it happens to be on the road from Svobodne to Hailan Pao, the Russian army wants to rescue the defenders of Hailan Pao Fortress, and it is the closest and most convenient to take this avenue - it is convenient to transport supplies. As soon as the position of the Fourth Forbidden Brigade was breached, the rear of the main force of the Janissary Field Army, which was busy attacking the Hailan Pao Fortress, was exposed to the Russian army's front, which would greatly disrupt the planned plan to break through the fortress and affect the realization of the battle intention of the base camp.

At about 9 o'clock, on the left flank of the position of the 4th Forbidden Brigade, the observation post of the 12th Guard Regiment deployed on the commanding heights of the left flank found the Russian infantry pouring out of the trenches, at this time the Russian artillery intensified the bombardment of the forward positions of the Chinese army, especially the commanding heights, and three of the five forward observation posts in the frontal positions of the 4th Forbidden Brigade successively lost telegraph contact with the brigade headquarters.

The frontal offensive began, the Russian army deployed 8 battalions on the first line, 6 battalions on the second line, and 6 unmanned battalions on the third line, advancing towards the first line positions of the Chinese army, which were held by 12 companies, each battalion carried two machine guns, and in addition, two 76 mm rapid-fire artillery batteries were advanced to the position, and the fire was pouring blazing artillery fire at the forward positions of the Chinese army at a rate of more than 15 rounds per minute at a quasi-flat fire distance of 1,500 to 2,000 yards.

Of course, the artillery of the Chinese army was not idle, and the Chinese artillery hidden behind the anti-slope of the soil slope opened fire one after another, but due to the lack of accurate means of calibration, the shooting accuracy of the large-caliber artillery was affected, coupled with the lack of quantity, it failed to quickly suppress several Russian artillery batteries that had been exposed, and the fierce fire of the Russian rapid-fire guns suppressed many front-line firing bunkers of the Chinese army, and the heavy artillery fire also destroyed some firing bunkers and trenches in some sections, effectively covering the advance of the infantry.

On the Russian position, Lieutenant General Shtakliberg, who was watching the battle at the forward observation post, saw that the start was good, patted his thigh and said: "I said they would perish, God, why should they not perish?" The weather helped us a lot, but more importantly, we had things that they didn't have, and we knew things they didn't know......"

When the main attention of the Chinese army was drawn to the front of the position, 8 Russian infantry battalions and 2 cavalry regiments suddenly poured out of the woods in front of the left position of the Chinese army, and several artillery companies accompanying them also immediately opened heavy fire from the edge of the woods to the Chinese positions set up on slopes of different heights.

Later, four Russian infantry battalions and two other cavalry regiments, which had left early, went around the rear of the position of the Forbidden Fourth Brigade, which was covered with swamps and forests, and the only road had been blocked by crossfire at several support points held by two Chinese infantry companies, but relying on the local population, the Russians knew how to pass this obstacle - something that the Russians had but the Chinese did not. After all, this is a place that has been effectively ruled by Russia for half a century or more.

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Before eleven o'clock, the front and left flank positions of the Forbidden Fourth Brigade could be described as immovable, the front of the positions was covered with Russian corpses, 60 mm mortars with a rate of fire of 30 to 40 rounds per minute and 7.92 mm machine guns that could pour more than 400 rounds per minute were the main perpetrators of this bloody massacre, the Forbidden 4th Brigade had a total of 106 60 mm mortars and the same number of machine guns, theoretically capable of projecting 3,000 to 4,000 mortar shells and more than 40,000 machine gun rounds per minute. The number of infantry that the attacker can put into battle will not exceed 40,000.

The 40-kilogram shells of the 1877-type 152-mm heavy howitzer and the 36-kilogram shells of the 1883-type 152-mm mortar guns continued to fall on the positions of the Chinese army, causing a series of earth-shaking explosions, flattening trenches, destroying bunkers, and stunning and killing officers and soldiers. The short time to prepare for artillery fire did not inflict too much damage on the Chinese army. The 1902-style 76-mm field guns, with a rate of fire of 10 rounds per minute, also posed a serious threat to the Chinese army, and several 76-mm artillery batteries were pushed to a distance of two or three thousand yards to bombard the Chinese army's bunkers. Even so, the Russians were unable to make any meaningful progress, they failed to capture the first line of trenches in the frontal positions of the Chinese army, nor did they capture any support point in the left flank position, and they paid a huge price, the 11th Army's 25th Infantry Division was defeated in the first two hours of the attack on the frontal positions of the Chinese army, and the rest of the battalions were also suppressed by the blazing fire of the Chinese army. The losses of the Chinese army were not small, and all the companies stationed on the front line suffered serious casualties, but fortunately, the reserves were increased in time, and seven fully manned infantry companies were sent to the first line of defense on the front alone.

Before 11 o'clock, Qian Zichen, commander of the Fourth Forbidden Brigade, sent telegrams asking for help to the division headquarters and the military headquarters one after another, but he did not immediately send a telegram to the Forbidden First Brigade across the river, because he felt that there was no reason to directly ask for help from troops at the same level, and waiting for orders from his superiors was the practice of professional soldiers, even though he had already sensed the existence of great danger.

He didn't see with his own eyes the Russian skirmish line that stretched for kilometers like beans, but he had already realized the peculiarity of this battle from the unusual dense artillery sound, the regimental commanders and detachment commanders reported to him one after another about the battle situation, telling him that he had repelled an enemy attack, and then claimed that he had also lost a lot of money, and needed reinforcements to request the transfer of reserves, Qian Zichen responded numbly, little by little, he threw two companies here and there from the reserves of the four battalions, and after eleven o'clock, the brigade reserves disappeared, Only one brigade headquarters guard battalion remained, defending the brigade command post and the 105 cannon position.

At this moment, terrible news reached Qian Zichen's ears, which shocked him - two teams of Russian troops were approaching the brigade command post.

"What! Has the enemy already broken through the rear positions? Why is there no news at all! Contact the defenders there! ”

"Report to the brigade commander, unable to be contacted, probably because the telegraph line is broken."

Qian Zichen immediately put away his surprise and hurriedly asked the herald to find someone, and two minutes later, Major He Fengqi, the commander of the guard battalion, who had been on standby, and Lieutenant Colonel Mao Tianji, the commander of the 3rd Fat Cavalry Regiment, ran over.

"I don't know why, the enemy suddenly appeared near the command post, one in the southwest and the other in the southeast, with cavalry as the vanguard, as if somewhere they had bypassed our position on the side of the road, but it doesn't matter anymore. I hope that Commander Mao will take all the cavalry to drive away the enemy in the southwest, preferably annihilating him, and then get in touch with the defenders in the rear position, and send a reconnaissance team to prevent the enemy's follow-up troops. Battalion Commander He took two companies to guard the earthen dam southeast of the command post, put one company around the command post, and the company guarding the artillery position did not move for the time being. ”

Qian Zichen quickly gave an order, then pulled out the revolver on his waist, and added to He Mao and the two: "Please don't worry about the safety of the brigade headquarters, I still have a company by my side, and if I can't do it, I still have a gun, I am still a little confident in my marksmanship." ”

He Mao and the others didn't say much, only saluted, and then went to gather their subordinates to carry out Brigade Commander Qian's orders.

The 108th Regiment of the 27th Infantry Division of the Russian Army, the 18th Lancer Regiment of the 10th Cavalry Division, and the 27th Cossack Cavalry Regiment of the 10th Cavalry Division were already under the leadership of local guides at this time, and they rushed to the rear hinterland of the 4th Brigade of the Chinese Army from several secret passages between the swamps and woodlands in two ways.

A battalion of the 108th Regiment and six cavalry companies launched an attack on the headquarters of the 4th Forbidden Brigade from the southwest, and encountered 800 Janissary cavalry led by Mao Tianji. Lieutenant Colonel Mao Tianji of the Praetorian Guards cavalry first pulled out his revolver, pulled the trigger in a row, and shot down several Russian soldiers, and then also pulled out the richly decorated saber used by the Praetorian Guard officer and rushed over, slashing left and right, blood splashed, and pulling out a small handful of the opponent's internal organs or muscles on the tip of the knife from time to time - about the blade was not sharpened, after cutting down five or six people, Mao Tianji quickly looked around and found that there were many fewer fat cavalry with white feathers on their hats, but the leather hats of the Russian Cossacks had the upper hand. It turned out that the Russian infantry was not so stupid as to stand aside and do nothing, and the whole battalion of infantry scattered around the circle of cavalry, sniping the Chinese cavalry on horseback with rifles, and dealing with the fallen Chinese cavalry with bayonets. Mao Tianji only hated that he had no infantry support, and if he continued to hold on like this, he was afraid that the whole army would be annihilated, so he had to order the trumpeters around him to blow the trumpet of collecting troops, and led the men and horses of his headquarters to rush out of the battle formation, and quickly fled in the direction of the brigade command. The Russian cavalry was in hot pursuit, and chased straight to the vicinity of the brigade command, when suddenly a long string of tongues of fire erupted from the window of a small wooden house, and several Russian cavalry chasing in front fell one after another, and the Russian cavalry behind retreated to join the infantry for fear of an ambush in front.

Mao Tianji panted and ran back to the brigade commander, and when he saw the brigade commander Qian Zichen, he had to bow his head and ask for guilt, but Qian Zichen didn't intend to blame anyone: "Outnumbered, this is also a helpless thing, let your cavalry dismount and prepare to defend the brigade commander, one battalion stays around the brigade commander, and the other battalion goes to defend the ammunition hoarding field north of the brigade commander, no problem, right?" ”

"Yes!"

Mao Tianji received the order, and personally led the first battalion into the circular trench around the brigade headquarters, set up machine guns, prepared grenades, and was about to fight the Russians, while the second battalion sent to the ammunition hoarding field, which was originally guarded only by a company of the 11th Guards Infantry Regiment.

Mao Tianji saw that his subordinates were full of frustration, and he knew that they were unhappy - the brilliant Praetorian Guard cavalry actually had to retreat into the trench like the infantry.

Mao Tianji stepped on the top of the trench, took a deep breath, and let go of his voice to mobilize: "Praetorian Guards! I know that you don't want to do it in your heart, but in fact, I don't want to, we are the most elite cavalry in the empire, and we actually want to do the things of ordinary infantry, just thinking about it will make people angry. But listen to me, now is not the time to be angry, think about it, why do we call ourselves elite? Because we can fight, we can defeat the enemy in any situation, win victory for the Empire, and achieve glory for ourselves! Since the most important thing is to defeat the enemy, then why should we fight on horses or under horses? Who said that cavalry could not go into the trenches? I dare say that our Praetorian Cavalry must be better in the trenches than any infantry unit, because we are the most elite, right! ”

All the officers and soldiers became excited and shouted: "Yes, we are the most elite!" Long live the Praetorian Guard! Long live the Empire! ”

Now that the expressions of frustration have been swept away, the officers and men are also in high spirits, and they are always ready to crush the enemy into powder in the future.

Soon, the Russian infantry appeared in a skirmish line in the sight of the Janissary cavalry, and two 47-mm cavalry guns began to bombard the brigade commanders directly, but the effectiveness of such small-caliber guns was so pitiful that they could not do anything practical against the fortified bunkers.

Mao Tianji immediately ordered the 57-mm cavalry guns and 80-mm mortars belonging to his headquarters to open fire on the enemy's cavalry guns, suppressing the two poor small cannons at once.

The two Maxim machine guns of the Russian infantry also rang out, and the two machine guns were in a very good position, and it was difficult for the Chinese cavalry guns and mortars to suppress them, so they simply turned to bombard the advancing Russian infantry.

The Russian cavalry, spread out on both flanks of the infantry, was the first to launch a charge with a shout.

Mao Tianji waved his hand: "Fire!" ”

Eight light and heavy machine guns spewed out long tongues of fire, and the Russian cavalry flew down their horses like autumn leaves in a very beautiful column of dust from the bullets.

The cavalry had a short range of their pistols, so they had to allow the Russian cavalry to rush to within three hundred yards before firing together, and the Russian cavalry, frightened by the heavy losses, turned their horses and retreated.

The Russian infantry still advanced unhurriedly, their rifles could fire from the range of the Chinese cavalry's rifles, but the machine guns of the Chinese cavalry still inflicted huge losses on them, and the bravest men were the first to be killed, probably realizing that the defenses here were too strong, and the Russian commander made the troops retreat, throwing down more than two hundred dead bodies in front of the positions of the cavalry. Mao Tianji did not let the troops pursue, because Qian Zichen had just sent someone to tell him that the He Fengqi guard unit sent to block the Russian detachment in the southeast had been repulsed, and the brigade command post was about to be attacked by the enemy troops of the unit.

The crisis of the forbidden 4 brigade has just begun.