Chapter 62: The Battle Clouds Are Flooded (1)

Mushaviev did not expect that the Chinese would have such courage to do what they wanted and fight. If so, with the artillery fire blocked by the Chinese on the other side of the river, the plan to transport armed personnel and combat equipment from the Gerbic River to Lower Udinsk, Kainsk and other places would be greatly discounted. With the military strength of the Russians, it would certainly be impossible to break through the Qing army artillery on one side of the river bank, but in that case, it would be equivalent to breaking apart with the Qing army in advance and fighting.

The commander of the Siberian Legion, Lieutenant General Lynevich, was ordered to invite Lieutenant General Lynevich to his office, and sat down with each other, and ordered people to serve hot black coffee - this is the favorite of the 61-year-old Lieutenant General - Sure enough, Lynevich smiled and picked up the coffee cup that was snow-white, thin and visible, and nodded to him, "Thank you for your coffee, Lord Governor. This is my favorite drink."

"It is the greatest honor for me and the people of the Siberians whom I belong to, to give you the best environment in Irkutsk, just as comfortable as you are in your own home." Mushaviev said politely, "Then, Commander, do you have any military insights on the obstacles our army has been subject to at present?"

"It's very simple. My respected Governor Mushaviev, I think that the indecent teasing of the Chinese people is precisely because of the strongest resistance and counterattack of the great Russian army, which can express our intolerable attitude towards their provocations."

"But, my respected commander, you wouldn't want to provoke a battle with China at such a time, right? From the Gerbizi River, Ergun River to Heilongjiang, Genhe, Kruren River, and Kulun River, our soldiers are far from enough to resist the attack of the Chinese! If they really get angry at this time, I'm worried that our defense will destroy the Chinese."

"You are too worried, my respected Governor. The Chinese artillery fire will definitely not stop the brave Russians and Cossack young men. As long as there are the main guns of the Queen-class ironclad ships, I think the resistance of the Chinese on the river bank will not be stronger than the walls of Troy." Lynevic said, "How wide is the river surface of the Heilongjiang River? One Russian or two Russian? Isn't the Chinese Karen on the river bank all within the range of the naval guns?"

"But our warships are also within the enemy's range!"

"A little necessary sacrifice is inevitable. Governor, this is a war, not playing chess with His Majesty the King!" He smiled, "During the Pharaoh's time, the ministers accompanied the King to play chess, and when they lose, no one will die!"

"Then, do you think," Mushaviev suddenly stopped the topic and said, "I'm sorry, please allow me to correct it. What price do you think we will have to pay to successfully open the channel from Jaxa to Strerkka, and not be harassed by the Chinese, and will we successfully transport our resources in the next month?"

"Please allow me to correct one of your mistakes. Dear Governor, I have reason to believe that the waterway through the above and downstream and up to the estuary of the Genhe River can be done, but if the influence of the Chinese on the transport on the river is to be stopped or cut off, it is a pity that I cannot do - no one can do it."

"Why?"

"Unlike what we have to transport materials through water, the Chinese do not have this problem. Therefore, even if we can use artillery to *** the river bank, there will still be Chinese people who miss the net to pose a problem to our transportation." Although Lynevic is a soldier, fundamentally, he is not willing to confront the Chinese people who are close to him. The reason is that the battle between the two major powers does not have much benefit to each other. Moreover, even if we gain a certain advantage with the help of naval power in advance, in less than a few months, the river surface is frozen and the ships cannot run, and the troops of the two countries are smoothly commuting from the river surface, which is the end of the Russian team.

The weather in East and West Siberia is too cold, with a minimum of minus 50 degrees Celsius. In this case, no matter which aspect, the military forces naturally retreat. What are competing on the battlefield is each other's logistics, transportation, military source support and other aspects - and in this regard, Russia is no match for the Chinese who are fighting locally!

But precisely because it is a soldier who regards obeying orders as his first duty, the first thing Linevich thought after accepting the appointment was to resolve the war as soon as possible. If he could defeat the Chinese people's resistance with a strong deterrent force in a short period of time and force the other party to resolve the disputes through negotiation, that would be the best choice. But knowing is easy and doing is difficult, who knows what the Chinese are planning?

After July 6, the Russians' actions on the river were calmed down for a few days. When the imperial edict came, Zhu Hongzhang was even more proud. "The emperor is wise! Not only does he not think it is blamed, he has also been granted the title of official position. You are also praised by the court. After a few days, the Russians' ships will come again and they will beat me up! No ship is allowed to pass through the Ulusumudan Karen line, do you understand?"

As a soldier, it is natural to carry guns and fight. This time, the court did not blame the firearms against the orders and fired. He also allocated reward silver to reward the participants. As for the leaders of each battalion, no matter whether they participated in the war or not, they would be rewarded. This made the crowd happy and inspired.

The good times didn't last long. On the morning of July 10th, Zhu Hongzhang had not yet woken up from his dream. A violent shaking and explosion sounded lifted him off the bed! The huge air waves rushed through the windows of the house, and the window sashes were scattered all over the room. The high-legged table on the open floor in the room was also knocked down, and the cups and saucers on it were scattered on the ground and smashed to pieces!

"What's wrong? What's going on?" Zhu Hongzhang was not injured, got up from the ground and called in panic, "Come?Come?"

The tragic sound of soldiers outside rushed into his ears. He grabbed his clothes and put them on his back, rushed out of the barracks. Under the originally sloped foundation, a huge bomb crater was blown out. The barracks on the high ground were all built, and all the residences built on the flat ground were washed away by the air waves. The thatch and hay were scattered all over the ground. Even the original house looked like they were in. I don’t know how the soldiers living inside were like?

Zhu Hongzhang climbed up the gentle slope and looked hard at the left and right rivers. It was empty. The sun rose from the east, but there was no sign of the enemy at all. He didn't know where the giant cannon that suddenly arrived just now came from? At this moment, footsteps sounded behind him, "Military Gate? Military Gate? Where are you?"

"I'm here." Zhu Hongzhang stood up for the second time and looked back. It was Yang Zaifu, Hu Damao, Cai Debin and other generals who ran out from different places, "What's going on?"

"I think it was the Russians who fired the fire." Yang Zaifu said.

"But, where are the people?"

Before he finished speaking, a sharp roar came to the sky! Everyone looked at it blankly. This time they saw it clearly. It was launched from somewhere upstream of the river. It landed at the foot of the mountain, causing huge smoke and explosions. Fortunately, there were no casualties. "Cai Debin?" Zhu Hongzhang shouted sternly, "Tae Debin, take people up the river to the mountain to see where it is ***? Yang Zaifu and Hu Damao, order the artillery battalion to prepare to face the enemy!"

"Zhe!" Several people agreed, each of them was busy. Before Cai Debin could lead the people to set off, someone shouted, "Zhu Junmen, are you looking at the river?"

Everyone looked back and saw clearly this time. The three warships were in a shape and headed downstream. The one on the east coast was a gunboat. The gunboat on the deck was aimed at the Ulusumudan Karen Fortress. The distance between them was three or five kilometers, but you could clearly feel the evil spirit of the 155-caliber main gun that broke through the sky!

Another muzzle of smoke was blown by the wind. This time everyone knew it was amazing. They all lay down and dodged. After a few breaths, "Boom!" A loud bang, the shells exploded on the hillside, blowing up a few oak trees and hazel trees that were originally growing, leaving half of the stumps on the ground, looking so lonely and pitiful.

"Yang Zaifu? Order the artillery battalion to open fire immediately!" Zhu Hongzhang was furious and shouted desperately.

"Military gate, even if you fire a cannon, it won't be of use. It's too far. You can't hit someone at all." Yang Zaifu couldn't hear it, and the personal army captain beside him leaned into his ear and said.

"Damn it." Although Zhu Hongzhang had never traveled to warships in person, when he was in Tianjin, he heard from American teachers Wall and others that the front main gun of a warship had the greatest power, but the firing rate was slow, and it could not be used for a long time. It was a considerable loss for the artillery itself. When he was fighting against the British in Shandong, he never experienced it. I didn't expect that I would taste the first taste of the Heilongjiang River today? It was indeed extremely powerful. "Wait a moment, wait until it gets close before beating this bastard." That's it, but when I think of the shells on my side, the maximum is only 32 pounds. I feel very confident if I can smash the shells of the enemy's armored warship.

Such giant ships of turrets are not the shore defense guns like Dagukou and Humen Fortress, or gunboats of the same level, the troops stationed by the Qing army on the road to Karen had no way to cause fatal damage, and could only be caught in a passive attack. Fortunately, the Russians did not want to destroy the ground combat power of the Qing Dynasty. Under the protection of the armed gunboats of the Odessa, three armed merchant ships, North America, Petersburg and North Korea, sailed past Ulusumudan Karen with great might and sailed downstream.

"Sir, can you still fight?"

"Fuck!" Zhu Hongzhang was full of inappropriateness and turned around and gave his personal soldiers a mouth, "With our cannon, can we hit others? You pig's brain! Come on, hurry up and see if any brothers are injured?"

After careful transportation and movement, all the collapsed wooden purlins and rafters were removed, and a total of fifteen people were killed and more than seventy were injured. Zhu Hongzhang was both upset and regretful, "I was not so anxious to fire at the Russians at the beginning. Now I can't kill the tiger, but I'm bitten by the tiger, hey!"

"The army does not have to do this. The Russian army relies on the benefits of giant ships to hurt our soldiers. It will surely arouse the whole army's desire to unite. In the future, war will start and morale will be like a rainbow. It will be a matter of course to save today's face and avenge the soldiers who died."

"Just hope this is the case." Zhu Hongzhang no longer had the enthusiasm of the previous few days. He waved his hand to send the injured soldier for treatment, and asked again, "By the way, have you sent someone to Aihui City to deliver a letter?"

"Someone has been sent."

Zhu Hongzhang turned around and climbed the hillside, looked at the Russian warships that were going away, and gritted his teeth in secret. In the future, when I brought people across Heilongjiang, we would gesture face to face! But suddenly a question came to my mind: There were Russian gunboats on the river to patrol back and forth, and Chinese warships were not allowed to transport soldiers across the river. How could this battle be fought?

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Saishana also heard the news of Ulusumudan Karen's artillery bombing for the Russian army in Aihui, and called Zhu Hongzhang's personal army to ask. Saishana stomped his feet and sighed, "Zhu Huanwen knew that he was causing trouble! Originally, the Russians might not have wanted to send warships to patrol the river. Now, with the Russians' warships here, how can our people cross the river?"

Yishan was very dissatisfied with his anger on others. Could it be that without Zhu Hongzhang's first launch, the Russians would have thought of using giant ships to face the river? Not to mention that it was the court's intention to reward Zhu Hongzhang. Where did he put the emperor in such anger? He was unwilling to let Sai Shang Aduo talk about Jia Huo, and interrupted, "I think there is no need to be afraid of the matter of sealing the river. The waters of Heilongjiang are long. Can the Russians defend one place and still defend the entire river? They can always break the enemy's *** and find gaps to cross the river."

"Just, you say you're secretly crossing the river? It's simple to think."

This is not the attitude of talking about things. Yishan pursed his lips and did not speak.

"There is a way to be a humble official." Aikuntai, who had not spoken for a long time, suddenly said, "It is better to mobilize warships from three naval camps in Qiqihar, Morgan and Heilongjiang City, sank them into the bottom of the river and block the river..."

"How can this work? Warships are used to transport soldiers and materials, how can they sink to the bottom of the river?" Sai Shanga glared and said loudly, "Ti'an, this plan is not feasible."

"My Lord, the Chief of Strategy, also thinks that the Deputy Chief of the General's words are very true. You think that the Qingshui Army on the left and right can't fight against the Russian army, why not just sink these useless things into the bottom of the river, and use my weaknesses to defeat the enemy's strengths?"

"I came here at the order of the emperor to defend the country and fight against foreign aggression. This river ship is also owned by the army, so how can it be abandoned easily?" Sai Shanga waved his hand hard, "There is no need to discuss this matter." He turned around and asked, "By the way, in what time can the river surface freeze in previous years?"

"It's until the end of August and early September."

"When I find a way to drag it for a month, I wait until the river is frozen, and I think the Russian warships retreat without fighting. At that time, our army can cross the river calmly."

It's good to say, but the emperor's fate is like the sky, so how can it be delayed for a month? Not to mention the urgent war, and it changes rapidly. Who can know what changes will happen within this month? Yishan gave Aikuntai a wink, and the two found a reason and came out together, "Brother Zhu Xiu?"

"I think I will give the emperor a memorial and say that the warships sink the river and block the river. What do you think?"

"Okay, that's OK. But sir, if you do this, you're afraid that you'll offend the master."

"The journey from Heilongjiang to the capital is long, and the war is imminent, so I don't care about so much. By August 1st, the war begins, and the soldiers have only enough strength to even get through the river in front of them. What will it be?"

"It's not enough to use the capital." Aikuntai said slowly, "Sir, have you forgotten? There is a telegraph bureau in Shengjing!"

"Ah? Yes! Just go to Shengjing."

Aikuntai smiled, "Old man plans for the country, and is full of righteousness, and has no place to be impressed. If the adult does not dislike my humble official position, I would like to report together with the adults."

"I really want to ask for it."
Chapter completed!