Night falls.

In the grassland sky, the starlight is very bright.

It did not pass much through the region of northern Central Asia, where the industrial civilization of mankind was brilliant.

Even at night, the light under the stars still allows people to see people in the distance.

On the banks of the Syr Darya River, in the middle of the battlefield, the artillery of both sides is struggling to tilt their fire towards the enemy, and the infantry of both sides are ready for a decisive charge.

After fierce battles during the day.

The Ming army has already built a defensive wall of sandbags, vehicles, dirt, and standing logs at the front of the Russian army's position.

The height is about 1.5 meters, and many of the shorter soldiers even need to stand on tiptoe to shoot.

However, this wall was not originally built to facilitate infantry shooting.

Rather, it was to form a cover for the artillery positions of more than 100 howitzers of all sizes of the Ming army.

One hundred and thirty howitzers have been deployed in place.

These artillery pieces can easily pour grenades with a charge of 6 catties into the trenches of the Russian army through a high-pitched trajectory.

And the Russian troops opposite them, from top to bottom, from generals to privates, know this very well.

The threat to them from these artillery pieces is deadly!

Throughout the afternoon to dusk, and then to the first half of the night, the Russian army was constantly sending infantry assaults at the same time, but also frantically reinforcing their already very strong trench defenses.

The trench defense of the Russian army was laid out in this way.

Before the first trench, there were three barbed wires.

The barbed wire fence formed by wooden stakes driven deep into the earth was difficult for horses to break.

This barbed wire fence was originally used for grazing.

It's still very sturdy.

The distance between the three barbed wire fences is about 100 meters.

Behind the last barbed wire fence is the first trench of the Russian army.

And so it goes.

The distance from the first barbed wire fence to the first trench is 600 meters.

It's about 400 steps.

Taking into account the time it took to break the barbed wire.

It takes at least ten minutes for the infantry to pass this distance, and it may take even longer considering the blockade of the defenders!!

The distance of 400 paces is already within the effective range of the front-loading rifled guns equipped by the Russian army.

Although the hit rate is impressive, the number of Russian troops is also large enough, and it can still inflict very much damage on the opponent under intensive firepower.

And the Russian troops in the trenches will form two rows of firing queues.

The front row is to shoot with guns mounted on sandbags, while the Russian troops in the back row are standing and shooting.

To create more dense firepower - before the advent of machine guns, the way to create dense firepower is to concentrate as many muskets as possible per unit area!

Within 10 minutes.

A well-trained soldier can complete at least 15 more reloads, which means that the Russian army can form 15 salvos!

This is an absolute fatal blow for the attacker.

Judging by the experience of the Balkan theater.

Such a combination, barbed wire, trenches, rifled guns equipped with bottom expansion shells are almost invincible.

No army could withstand such dense firepower, breaking through three barbed wire fences and rushing into the trench!!

No army can endure a salvo of rifled guns for 15 rounds!!

According to the experience of the Russian army, even if the artillery of the Ming army was deployed to the front, it was impossible for them to completely suppress the Russian troops hiding in the trenches with artillery.

So.

In this battle, the Russian army will definitely be able to inflict very large casualties on the Chinese on the opposite side - in theory, it is true.

But at this moment.

When the acting commander of the 12th Infantry Division of the Russian Army, Sumarokov, was patrolling the front line, he was very worried in his heart.

He was sent to Central Asia after retreating from the Caucasus battlefield.

As an experienced front-line officer, his experience of more than a year of warfare in the Caucasian theater told him.

Such a defensive position occupies a great advantage in the face of tactics such as horizontal formations, columns, phalanxes, and stragglers.

Such a defensive position is impossible to break: even the attackers have five times more troops than the defenders!

And now the situation is that the number of Russian troops is more than twice as large as the Ming army opposite!

But even so, Sumarokov was very worried in his heart.

Because, the opponents of this battle, they seem to have an endless stream of new tactics, and they are equipped with new weapons.

A new tactic based on the new weapon, Lying Down and Crawling, now seems to minimize casualties during the advance!

If only a few years ago.

Some of the soldiers under his command wanted to crawl on the ground to the opponent, so Sumarokov's first thought was to pull out the command knife and dismantle this guy who insulted the dignity of the soldiers!

But now.

Sumarokov realized.

It is quite possible that the Chinese on the opposite side can really win with this seemingly very unsightly tactic.

As they lay on the ground, bullets flew almost all over their heads.

The impact surface is greatly reduced.

And once they broke through to the range.

The astonishing rate of fire of the rear-loading guns made it impossible for the Russian army, equipped with front-loading guns, to win in such a difference in the rate of fire.

"You can't use platoon tactics, you can't shoot at them, otherwise everyone will be killed!"

Sumarokov thought.

But here's the thing.

What can you do if you don't shoot a platoon gun?

With grenades and bayonets?

That's a good idea.

Put the enemy in the trench and fight grenades and bayonets.

But here's the problem.

The number of grenades equipped by the Russian Army is too small.

in industrial production capacity.

Not to mention Russia.

Even if all European countries are bundled together now, they may not have a stronger production capacity than the current Ming Empire.

It's a huge empire with a population of 500 million.

It's really scary to be neighbors with such a country - Sumarokov didn't think about it, originally they didn't have a border with China.

The number of grenades is not comparable to that of the opponent.

Fighting bayonets, the Russian soldiers are not afraid.

But the problem was that many of the Ming soldiers on the opposite side bought revolvers.

Except for officers above the platoon commander, other Ming soldiers were not issued pistols.

But the soldiers of the Ming army have money, they can buy pistols themselves.

Now there are many gun factories in Foshan, and the price of pistols in the Ming Dynasty is not high, so many Ming soldiers can afford it.

After all, this is a guy who can save his life at a critical moment.

In the hand-to-hand encounter.

Stabbed VS pistol, who has the advantage is obvious.

Sumarokov, of course, can attack these Chinese for not speaking martial virtues.

But here's the reality.

People have more grenades than you, and before you fight the bayonet, they will empty the six bullets in the revolver, how else can you fight? (End of chapter)