Chapter 68 The entire army was wiped out

Mushaviev was stunned for a while when he learned that the Stretiansk Fortress had changed hands. Although the Qing army had been delaying for nearly half a month before taking the fortress, he carefully calculated and changed the tactics from the other side, but only persisted for one day. If he continued to advance at this speed, the fortresses built along the Heilongjiang River would be exhausted until the weather turned colder.

After discussing with Lynevich, the two of them also believed that the Chinese could not let the Chinese take the initiative in the offensive on the battlefield and continued. If the opponent broke through the Sakhalin Ulahotung City and the Jeyayilenesque Fortress, the Qing army would not be able to continue to approach. Petersburg would be afraid that someone would make a comment to the Russian emperor and ask foreign forces to intervene and mediate. Therefore, what the Russian army is eager for now should be said to be a refreshing victory to ensure that his decision to use force against China will not be disturbed by anyone at the previous level! As long as the war is dragged until October, the bitter and cold weather outside the pass can definitely slow down the pace of the Qing army. If peace is negotiated, then you will probably get a satisfactory result.

Therefore, he and Linevich decided to dispatch 10,000 armed forces recruited from the country from Lower Udinsk, Kainsk, Tomsk and other places, together with the ten cavalry regiments under the Baikal Cossack Army and two of the two cavalry and artillery battalions, to launch a tactical harassment and strategic strike against the Qing army troops who were sharpening their swords along the Heilongjiang line. Relying on the coverage of artillery and the flexibility of the cavalry, delay and eliminate the enemy. At the same time, order the Baikal Cossack Army stationed in the city to take advantage of the situation to attack and achieve the purpose of extermination of the Qing army.

The Qing army was filled with joy, and they were all immersed in the joy of the first battle and gained their fortunes. They only thought that the Russian army was so magical, but in fact, it was not enough! If this process continues, the soldiers could point directly to the city of Jaxa by November at the latest. If it goes well, the brothers could even return to their hometown and celebrate the New Year with their families.

This kind of arrogance in the army was getting higher and higher, and Su Shun thought it was inappropriate, but he was not a minister who commanded the army. He came to the Northeast, rather than watching the battle, he was a labor force. After working hard, he could not return to the capital without the emperor's will, so he had to spend some time here.

On August 17, after three days of rest, the war rekindled. The Qing army's tactics did not change at all. First, it covered the firepower of Sahalian Ulahotong City on the hillside with fierce artillery fire, and prepared to organize troops and climb mountaineering. The progress seemed to be very smooth. The third, sixth and 11th battalions of the Shengbao headquarters were responsible for the first attack. More than 1,300 Qing soldiers were carrying long spears, spreading their formations, and quickly walked up the mountain. In less than a few breaths, they disappeared behind the big rocks on the hillside.

The Qing army learned experience from the last battle. For the troops who were rushing forward, the artillery from their own side was also one of the reasons for the damage. The soldiers were attacked from both sides, which was the most sad. Therefore, as the troops advanced to the mountain, the artillery from the Qing army camp at the foot of the mountain also fell. But just after the sound of the Qing army's artillery sound landed, a ball of smoke suddenly exploded from the Qing army's artillery position, "Boom!"

The Qing army gunners around were suffering heavy casualties. Zhu Hongzhang looked back and was shocked! A brilliant arc was drawn in the sky, and more and more shells fell down. The landing points of these shells were extremely accurate and they hit the Qing army's artillery positions. The Qing army was not prepared at all, and they didn't even know where the enemy's artillery positions were, so they were beaten up!

A personal army guarded their respective chief officers and searched for hidden places. Zhu Hongzhang shouted, "Send people quickly and check where the Russian artillery positions are?"

"Sir, Yang Guandai and Hu Guandai have sent people... Hurry up, hide first." As he said that, the central army guard Zhu Hongzhang rolled and crawled behind a gentle slope, pressing him and hiding.

The Qing army was like a headless fly, and the artillery fire on the Russian army was shattered. Many soldiers were on the battlefield for the first time. It was fine when they fought a battle with the wind. They had the superiors in charge and could also support the overall situation. Only in this situation, if they lost command, there was no way to deal with it. They only knew how to run back and forth, and they didn't know how many people affected the artillery fire and left their lives on the side of the river.

"Don't be confused!" Cheng Xueqizhen shouted loudly, "Look for hidden, look for hidden!" Although the voice was loud, the effect was not very strong. The Russian artillery fire became more and more fierce, drowning his voice. "Sir, it's not a problem to continue like this, why don't you retreat first?"

Cheng Xueqi raised his hand to give the soldier who was giving advice, "Fart!" He said, "How can so many brothers retreat? The ***er chased and killed him, and how many people could return to the side of the river?"

As they spoke, the Russian artillery fire gradually faded away. The terrified Qing army looked at each other. Even the most unmilitary people noticed the abnormality. A roar like thunder was vaguely heard in their ears, and it seemed that the earth was trembling. "No, it was the Russian cavalry that arrived!"

Cheng Xueqi looked back and saw that it was Hu Damao. He had just gotten up from the ground, his face half blue and half white. He looked at the source of the sound. Under the hillside behind Ulahotung City, a pure black war horse quickly crossed the gentle slope. The knight on the horse was wearing military uniforms and holding a spear in his hand. The black muzzle was clearly visible - followed by the second and third. In an instant, a large group of Cossack cavalry, like black waves, had rushed to the front of the Qing army's formation!

The Cossack cavalry roared like a ghost roar from the mouth. The musket that fired bullets, skilled gun bags on the saddle, pulled out the sabers from the waist, and galloped past like wind and clouds. Cheng Xueqi saw a foolish Qing army standing still when facing the galloping horse. After the cavalry rushed over, his head flew into the air! The blood in his neck was like a cannon set off on the night of August, and with a strong smell of blood, it soared into the sky!

Originally, there were more than 10,000 Qing troops on the north bank of Heilongjiang and more than 1,000 artillery pieces, so they would not suffer such great damage. However, the Qing army failed to command and fought on their own. This was the first time that the Cossack cavalry came and went like the wind and was like a demon god. It was defeated and fled in all directions.

However, not everyone ran away in a hurry. Hu Damao reacted immediately, pulled out the pistol he wore at his waist, raised his hand and opened the flower of a Cossack cavalry's head. At the same time, his body was pressed to the ground by several other people, curled up in a ball, and let the Cossack cavalry's horses gallop past his body.

Looking back, it was the warrior in his own camp, "Super? Are you nothing?"

"I'm fine." Hu Damao stood up and saw that there were no cavalry in front of him. He hurriedly lay down and shouted loudly, "Get close! Get close and prepare for battle!"

The remaining soldiers of the second battalion crawled over and temporarily counted the number of people. Just a raid for Russian artillery and cavalry, there were as many as 170 to 80 people, almost 50% of the combat power in the battalion! Hu Damao nodded expressionlessly, "Don't worry about them for now, prepare for battle!"

The soldiers lay down on the spot, raised their quick guns, and fired a row of guns to the distance, which was about to turn around the horse, and were about to conduct a second assault: "Bang!"

The Qing army's new fast gun had a very long range and could hit 350 steps, but the soldiers were panicked, and seven of the ten bullets were shot to the empty space. "Where are the people from the grenade battalion?" Hu Damao shouted loudly, "Is there anyone from the grenade battalion here?"

"Yes, yes." Some commanders were not afraid of commanding the battle when they were in danger. The soldiers from other battalions moved closer, including the remaining soldiers from the grenade battalion. "The Beizhi is the Dusi of the Grenade Battalion under the command of Lord Sheng. My surname is Han."

"Okay, Han Dusi, send someone to your brothers...who is crying?"

"Sir, I... I'm afraid." A gentle soldier in his grade was covered in tears, and his eyes looked at the fully armed Cossack cavalry in the distance in horror, and said in a trembling voice.

Hu Damao sighed, "I'm afraid too. Brothers, I'm very scared, worried that I won't go back to the other side, but I can promise you that I will never leave any living brothers alone!"

The situation on the battlefield gradually became smoother, and more and more remaining soldiers slowly moved closer to this side, with a total of around 6 or 700 people. In addition to Hu Damao, Zhu Hongzhang, Li Shixian, Cheng Xueqi, and Shengbao also came here under the escort of their own troops. There was only one Yang Zaifu missing, and he didn't know whether it was death or life.

"Sir, what do you think?"

"I have been in the army for ten years and have never been defeated today!" Zhu Hongzhang looked heartbroken, "Old Hu, you did a good job!"

Hu Damao scratched his head with a wry smile, and looked back. The eyes of the generals and officers were full of admiration. Even Cheng Xueqi, who had always looked down on him, was rarely respectful. "Sir, there is nothing scary about the cavalry. What I am afraid of is that the Russian army has other support."

"What Hu Guandai said," Cheng Xueqi also echoed, "There was no movement in the fortress on the mountain. I think the third battalion led by Lord Sheng has encountered an unexpected situation. I am even more worried that if the Russian army covers the mountain and kills our army and is attacked from both sides, there is no need to fight this battle."

"What should I do?"

"It's better to leave a team to support it, and the others retreat to the riverside and have no worries. You can also draw troops from Jiangyou to support before you can fight again."

Zhu Hongzhang was stunned. Cheng Xueqi didn't want to escape, right? But when he thought about it, he felt that he would not. Cheng Xueqi may have a strong sense of fame and fortune, but in such an environment, he abandoned his friendly army and fled for his own life. Not to mention the national law, military law is difficult to tolerate. Even if he escaped by luck, he would never want to raise his head in the army in the future. And the way he proposed to retreat to the riverside and rely on the river to make his side have no worries is a good plan, "This is a solution. But how to retreat?"

Several people discussed for a while and decided to follow what Cheng Xueqi said, and lead their troops back to the Heilongjiang River. While defending against the enemy, they sent people across the river to ask the army to send troops to help. However, who would take on the important task of blocking the enemy, but looked at each other and did not speak.

"Sir, let's get to the low position." Sheng Bao suddenly started to speak.

Zhu Hongzhang looked at Sheng Bao who volunteered, and Zheng pointed out, "Okay! With such a brave man as Kezhai, why worry about the Russian army not breaking? He ordered Sheng Bao to lead the army to cut off the rear. All the grenades and cannons that can be used were dispatched by the person, and the battlefield situation was decided by the person's words!"

After the tactics were determined, everyone gathered their soldiers and left behind the Third Battalion, Yang Zaifu's Third Battalion, Hu Damao's Second Battalion, and Cheng Xueqi's Remnants were responsible for the heavy responsibility of blocking the enemy. The others were ready and slowly retreated to the side of the river bank.

The Russian army naturally had no intention of indulging the enemy and escaped easily. Seeing that the Qing army was deploying its defenses, the troops behind slowly retreated. Clear gunshots sounded from the Cossack cavalry. The horse shook its front hooves and was ready to set off. The distance between the two sides was too close, and the artillery had lost its effectiveness. It could only be attacked by the infantry's quick guns and fire grenades at close range. "Prepare..., prepare..., prepare..., release!"

The gunshots were loud and the smoke rose. The Qing army's quick guns began to show their power. From time to time, the Cossack cavalry fell off the horse. The rest were not affected at all and continued to gallop. Sheng Baoren was very smart. He knew that his side was in the guard position, and the biggest constraint was that the firing speed was not fast enough, so he only left two battalions of soldiers to block the enemy. The other two battalions lurked behind and took on the task of replacing bullets. The Qing army, who was surging forward, used a gun, put it aside, picked up the other one, raised his hand to fire, greatly increasing the firing frequency.

In addition, there were ignited fires in front of the Qing army camp. Seeing that the enemy was approaching, the soldiers of the grenade battalion ignited the fuse of the grenade and fired it out with force. In the midst of the thunder, it also caused great trouble and damage to the Russian knights. The Russian army was not out of weakness. The artillery behind the position was fired again, and large tracts of land were blown up by the shells, and they were blown up. Both sides suffered casualties, and screams resounded throughout the earth.

A moment later, the Qing army discovered that from its flank, which was the direction where the Russian cavalry had just appeared, Russian infantry began to join the battle group, which seemed to have intended to completely eat up the Qing army, the army responsible for blocking the enemy. This is not counting. On the mountain road leading to the Ulahotung City of Sakhalian, there were Russian soldiers guarding the city assaulting down from the mountain. The remnants of the battalions led by Shengbao were trapped in a bitter battle against the enemy on three sides.

Sheng Bao smiled bitterly in his heart. The enemy's siege had already been established, and there were even a huge gap in the number of people. This battle was no longer necessary to continue, and you could know the result. He was absurd and his civil and military failed. After joining the army, he had the idea of ​​killing the enemy on the battlefield and repaying the country's kindness. But he was like this, but he had hurt so many brothers to accompany him to die together?

He looked back at the brothers who were already dissatisfied but still fighting back with guns. He felt excited. He suddenly stood up from the position, pulled out the pistol from his waist, and shouted loudly, "Brothers, now we are in a state of death and life! As soldiers, we are just a matter of defending our country and defending our lives. Let's rush forward with me and die with the enemy!"

"Roar forward and die with the enemy!"

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On August 17, in the battle of Ulahotong City of Sahalian, the general of the Shandong Green Camp of the Qing army, Sheng Bao, led Yang Zaifu and the soldiers of the green camp of various provinces, totaling 3,872 people, died on the battlefield - Si Shi Ye.
Chapter completed!