The July sea breeze blows on the sea, and the warm sea breeze blows into St. Petersburg against the skin.

Every evening, the citizens all sit in the sunshine and enjoy this rare summer warmth.

Today seems to be no exception, with citizens gathering to talk about the war between Russia and the coalition forces.

This summer has been difficult for Russia, from Iasi, to Kharkiv, Orel, Minsk. The entire western Russian front was beaten into a pot of porridge.

Looking at Europe, only Russia has such human resources to confront the whole of Western Europe.

Trench warfare held back the coalition forces and prevented them from unleashing their massive offensive capabilities.

Facing a defensive line composed of artillery, barbed wire, and machine guns, relying on people to attack is no different from suicide.

Kutuzov's vision has been realized, and if the war drags on for another two or three months, the Russian winter will come.

Whether it was the Prussians or the French, their desire to attack would be imprisoned by the cold Russian winter, and they would no longer be able to move half an inch.

July is the most crucial month, as long as the defense line is not breached in July. Kutuzov's vision can be considered a complete realization.

It was the first Sunday in July, and the townspeople were heading back to their homes to sleep after a pleasant evening.

The war is coming, and there is still a lot of work to be done in the factory tomorrow.

The work is tiring, but the pay is small.

There is not much left after buying bread for each day. The children's desire to eat a piece of candy has become a luxury.

Fortunately, St. Petersburg has not yet been affected by the war. People's lives, although hard, can still get by.

I heard from the people who fled that the days in the war zone were called difficult.

The citizens of St. Petersburg prayed that the flames of war would never burn here.

What they didn't know was that just in the distance, on the surface of the sea, which they couldn't see, there was a large group of behemoths moored. They are like giant beasts, lying quietly on the surface of the sea, ready to choose people to devour at any time.

For this operation, Li Xiu mobilized more than seventy ships of various types. Among them, there are as many as seven arsenal ships that were frantically exported in Sevastopol.

Before the troops landed, Li Xiu prepared to plow the preset landing site with shells in order to ensure the success of the landing.

This landing, there is a lot of pressure at home.

The reason is that the Ming Dynasty is not ready to pay the blood of the Ming soldiers for a war without interests.

Li Xiu had no way to object, because his eldest brother Li Xiao was the one who put forward this argument.

Li Xiao has said more than once that the purpose of war is only money, money, more money.

A war without interests is not worth a drop of blood for a soldier.

Without the support of Li Xiao, the price offered by the coalition was very attractive. It's so tempting that Li Xiu can't refuse!

This is also something that cannot be helped, and the appropriations of the imperial court to the navy are all fixed. But the navy always has to have some unplanned expenditures, and applying to the household department is basically in vain.

Once, Li Xiu was so angry that he grabbed Ai Husheng's neck and wanted to kill him.

Ai Husheng spread his hands together, and he didn't have a single life if he asked for money. What else to say, the money of the imperial court is now used to build railways, roads, and schools in various places.

There are also scientific research institutions in Liaodong, which are also gold-swallowing beasts.

Being able to build a warship in two years is already the ultimate in what the household can help. I didn't see the army, even if it was Ao Ye's first division, the weapons had not been updated for three years.

Li Xiu was just a collar, and the short-tempered Ao Ye directly put the gun on Ai Husheng's head. That's it, Ai Husheng has no choice.

No money! The household department really has no money now, and the money is used by the marshal to engage in construction and education.

Li Xiu, who had no choice, could only make his own money.

This time was a good opportunity to make money, and Li Xiu had no choice but to use mercenaries.

The so-called mercenaries are the Naval Foreign Legion.

These people are not in the navy, but the Ming will pay them. And as long as you get military merits, you can live in places such as Ryukyu, Wa, Joseon, Jiaozhi, Xinjiapo, and so on.

The salary given by the navy is not high, but the right of abode of the subject country of the Ming Dynasty is worth a lot.

Therefore, murderers, pirates, wanted criminals, and so on from all over the world, all kinds of criminals, came from all over the world and joined this big family.

Anyway, being caught in a dead end, not only can you get the money to fight for the Ming Dynasty, but you can also obtain the right of abode in the Ming Dynasty.

As long as they go to live in the subject country of the Ming Dynasty, no one will dare to trouble them anymore. After being a soldier for many years, Jizan put down some money. Find a local woman to marry, and you can live a good life.

Li Xiu raised three regiments of such guys, who learned the language of the Ming Dynasty and received training from the Ming Dynasty.

Originally a hungry wolf that eats people, now equipped with fangs and claws, these guys possess powerful explosive and destructive power to sweep away all fierce enemies.

Li Xiao took the battleship Kunlun Mountain and personally supervised the battle on the sea.

Today's Daming Navy has realized radio communication between ships. This is a convenience that the navies of all countries in the world do not have!

In Li Xiu's command room, there were two large rows of telegraph operators, who could contact the ships at any time.

I looked at my watch, and it was nine o'clock in the evening. It's already dark on the sea!

"The whole army marched into the waters of St. Petersburg." Li Xiu calculated the time and moved forward at this speed. When we reached the sea of St. Petersburg, it was about three or four o'clock in the morning.

For this raid, Li Xiu specially chose this moonless night. So that the fleet could approach St. Petersburg with maximum concealment.

To be exact, tonight isn't completely moonless.

The thin crescent moon hangs in the sky like bean sprouts, and you can't see it at all if you don't look closely.

The fleet rushed at full speed towards the port of St. Petersburg, encountering quite a few Russian fishing boats along the way. The fleet simply ignored them, and with the speed of the fishing boats, they could not send the news back before the fleet reached St. Petersburg.

On the contrary, it is the artillery fire that destroys them, which will reveal the whereabouts of the fleet.

These bastards in the navy, although they can't fire and destroy those fishing boats, they haven't said that they can't be rammed.

The mountain-like warships ran over them, and the wooden fishing boats were crushed to the bottom of the sea without even a bubble. It was then smashed into countless pieces by the propeller and emerged from the water with the current.

As for the people on the fishing boat, no one was seen to come up. No one cared about these people, and everyone was eager to prepare for the upcoming landing battle.

After a night of sailing, when the sky was just a little bright, the fleet reached the sea off St. Petersburg and began to take battle formation.

At 4:30 a.m., it was just a little bit of light before it dawned. Two destroyers sailed into the port of St. Petersburg, and the demining plough towed behind them opened a channel for the fleet behind.

The result was very surprising, such an important port city, the Russians did not lay mines.

The news was quickly transmitted back by telegram, and Li Xiu was even a little unconvinced. Two destroyers were sent again, towing the sea plough and dragging it again on the edge of the channel, but there were still no mines.

After a delay of more than half an hour, someone on the shore had already spotted the warship on the sea.

At five o'clock in the morning, four destroyers began shelling ashore.

The shells of the destroyers, all 120-mm howitzers. The range is long, the landing point is accurate, and the explosion is powerful. Especially for those who are exposed, the grenade is more lethal.

When a shell falls to the ground, anyone within a radius of thirty meters will be harmed. Either killed by shrapnel or shocked by a powerful blast wave.

People who are 30 meters away will at least suffer from deafness and other sequelae.

As for those within ten meters, they can only lament their bad luck. Even if you lie on the ground, your internal organs will be shattered by the huge explosion, and even if you are alive, it is better to live than to die.

The destroyer hull turned sideways, lined up with the front and rear main guns taking turns bombarding the buildings in the harbor.

For a while, thick smoke billowed from the harbor, and the wailing in the harbor rang out. After all, there are only eight main guns in the front and rear combined, and it is impossible to carry out covering fire inside the port.

There was a lot of mourning in the port, and people fled the port area in a hurry.

Soon, people rushed to St. Petersburg. Report the appearance of the coalition fleet in the harbor to Duke Peter.

Such an important city as St. Petersburg, coastal artillery still exists.

The sound of artillery is an order, and the coastal artillery quickly moved into battle positions. But before they could run towards the gun position, an overwhelming hail of rockets fell down.

The coastal artillery, which was exposed, fell into the sea of fire almost instantly. Not even 30 percent of the people who survived this round of shelling.

It can be said that the coastal artillery lost its combat effectiveness almost instantly.

It must be said that the Russians are very tenacious in their will to fight.

The rest of the coastal artillery was still in the turret.

These reinforced concrete turrets are equipped with armor plates. A 120-mm howitzer, a direct hit will only gnaw off the outermost layer of skin.

The Russian artillery behind the turret reloaded at the fastest speed, and the 240-millimeter cannon of the coastal artillery let out a deafening roar.

Everything was carried out in a hurry, but the shells were still very accurate.

A shell fell at a distance of only twenty meters from the destroyer, which was already considered a near-miss.

The power of the 240-millimeter cannon was not covered, and the huge waves that set off made the destroyer's hull tilt rapidly. At one point, the island was tilted to 45 degrees, and if it had gotten closer, perhaps this shell would have overturned the destroyer.

The destroyers instantly fell silent, and the four destroyers quickly turned around and prepared to withdraw from the battlefield. There was only the rear main gun, which continued to fire indiscriminately into the harbor.

It gives people the feeling that the Ming fleet is fleeing in a hurry.

The Russian troops in the turret instantly became excited, and they pushed the shells with carts even harder, and then loaded them into the barrels.

"What's that?" Suddenly, an ensign officer in charge of the lookout pointed to the sea in surprise.

In the distance, on the sea, there were two mountain-like warships.

It wasn't a warship, maybe it was two mountains of steel floating on the sea.

Kunlun Mountain, Changbai Mountain, this is the most advantageous weapon that Li Xiu can get his hands on, if it weren't for the Tianshan being maintained in the dock. He would have had three battleships of this rank in his hands!

The two battleships turned sideways to the hull, with three main guns in the front and rear, and aimed at the coastal batteries that had just been fired.

"Oh my God! They're aiming at us, ranging! Range, ready to take them out. The second lieutenant held the binoculars, and his voice trembled a little.

"No! They are out of range, we can't reach them. Reckonably, they will not reach us either. The calculator shouted loudly after calculating.

If a 240-millimeter cannon can't hit it, then there's nothing to worry about.

Still, the lieutenant felt that danger was approaching.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ……！ "There was a deafening salvo with smoke coming out of the barrel. Shells, with a whistling, smashed into the coastal batteries of the Russians.

"They ......!" The second lieutenant did not continue to speak, but begged the gods to bless the shells of the Ming army from falling on their heads.

The recoil of the three 480-mm guns pushed the battleship backwards by more than 30 meters.

The shells flew in the air, as if time had stopped all at once. The people on the warship, as well as the people inside the turret, were anxiously waiting.

"Boom! Rumble! Rumble! ……！ The cannonballs smashed hard around the turret, and the columns of smoke rose high, as if they were falling from the Yellow Spring.

Of the twelve shells, only two hit the turret.

Two shells, almost as thick as a man in diameter. From the sky, it smashed on the turret like an extraterrestrial giant meteorite.

What is even more frightening is ...... that both shells are time-delay shells.

The second lieutenant looked at the shells falling from the sky and directly killed two unprepared soldiers. On the top of the turret, two ten-millimeter-thick steel plates, plus one-meter-thick reinforced concrete, were pierced directly.

The steaming shell stood straight on the ground, and the warhead smashed directly into the ground half a meter deep.

"Goo-toot!" The second lieutenant swallowed a big mouthful of saliva, he felt lucky that two shells in a row were duds. This chance is smaller than the chance of a boy having a baby.

Can a man have children?

The answer is no!

As the second lieutenant drew a cross on his chest, two shells burst out with a dazzling light almost simultaneously.

The heavy roof of the turret flew directly into the sky at a height of 100 meters. The smoke and dust from the explosion even took the shape of a mushroom cloud.

As for the people inside the turret, needless to say, they were directly vaporized.

A 480 mm howitzer, that power is not to be talked about.

By this time, the arsenal ship had completed its U-turn, and the rockets were once again fired at the harbor.

The already smoky port suddenly turned into a sea of fire.

Seven arsenal ships, two salvos down. The port of St. Petersburg is no longer likely to have any living people.

The destroyers that had turned around turned their heads again, their black muzzles pointed at the shore, ready to open fire at any moment.

Two troop transports, driven directly to the pier. Along one side, four gangways were lowered.

Groups of heavily armed soldiers ran up the gangway into the smoky port of St. Petersburg.