Chapter 601 The fortress of Uginsk in despair!
"Fire!" With a roaring roar, twenty-five heavy mortars slightly set back, and their wide muzzles immediately spit out a stream of white smoke. After that, the sharp and harsh roar sang in mid-air and flew to the Ujinsk fortress, which was already immersed in the hell of blood and fire.
The masonry fortress of the Uginsk fortress collapsed into a terrible and deadly flame, tearing the living life around it and tearing the Russian soldiers who were defending on the wall together with their weapons.
Uginsk, a fortress that has existed in the Siberian wasteland for nearly a hundred years, has long let the moss and wind and frost rust its gray figure mottled and old, but now, under the raging of the artillery, it seems to be revealing its already muddy coat, revealing its inside. The truth is just that the process seems so rude and arbitrary.
In the Uginsk fortress, which is no more than a mile in length and width, it has long been in chaos. The Russians screamed and cried and ran wildly in the city. From time to time, shells that missed the direction fell into the city, rising columns of smoke and the dull explosion.
The Russians carrying weapons shouted loudly and gathered towards the city walls. Most of the residents in the Uginsk fortress were Russian pioneers from Europe. Almost every resident could become a qualified soldier after taking up the weapon, but now, the other party did not give them a chance to fight back. Give them a chance to kill and shoot face to face with a rifle and machete, as if they want to use the dense and crazy gunfire to bury the strong Uginsk fortress.
The bells in the Russian Orthodox church are ringing non-stop, just like the heartbeat of those Russians. A priest stood at the gate of the church and helped the panicked women and children enter the church, cursing the damn, demon-like enemy. Those infidels will be punished and punished by God!"
"God, please forgive us, our Father in heaven, may everyone honor your name. May your country come. May your will be done on earth, as you walk together in heaven... forgive us our debts, just as we forgive people's debts. Don't let us meet temptation, but save us from evil. Because the country, power, glory are all yours..." In the church, those old people, women and children are pleading and praying to their faith with tears in their eyes. The rumbling gunfire outside made the glass of the church buzz, making their eyes full of despair...------------ --------
And there are also people who are angry, roaring angrily out of despair, to their companions around them, to the Lord they believe in. Didn't they say that the East has countless wealth? Didn't they say that Orientals are so cowardly and incompetent? But when we came here, we only saw the endless wilderness and countless beasts, as well as the hard-to-excavolate frozen soil..."
"...Why, why do they appear under our fortress now, ravaging our town and our army with that terrible gunfire? Why didn't they protect us from the tens of thousands of troops who left here before? Are we not Russians?
Boom! Boom! Boom! The deafening explosion interrupted their anger and scolding, leaving only the desire to survive and the fear of death. The bells were still echoing, and the praises of the prayers pleading to God became louder and more trembling, but in the roaring gunfire, they seemed so weak.
"Colo, Colonel, there has been a gap in the east wall. We need reinforcements, we need reinforcements." A Russian soldier carrying a fur hat rushed to an officer who was lying behind the wall and gasping hard, shouting regardless of his superiority.
"Reinforcement, reinforcements, damn reinforcements, where can I get reinforcements for you? Haven't you seen that I'm also very critical here? You idiot, coward, go back to the wall you guard and tell your officer that I don't even have an extra gun for him. Let him figure it out by himself. Colonel Arshavin, the city guard of the Uginsk fortress, grabbed the soldier's skirt fiercely and roared loudly. However, soon another fire hit, and he had to hold his head again and retracted back to the wall.
After the choking smoke disappeared, the soldier who stood in front of him and came to ask for help had turned into a rotten watermelon, and his body was still unconsciously twitching.
"May God forgive you, Amen." Looking at the previous moment, he was still so lively and shouting at himself, now he can only wait for his companion to be buried by the dust. Colonel Arshavin's mouth trembled nervously under his thick beard.
However, he still stood up and waved the machete with the tip of the knife cut by shrapnel, roaring loudly, inspiring the morale of the soldiers who trembled like quail. Strike back, fight back, you damn cowards, are our cannons all dumb? Give me a fight back! Don't forget that we are Russians. The Mongols who made the whole of Europe tremble and afraid have been trampled under our feet, and those Turks who made the whole Europe panic can only pity us..."
His voice was shaken intermittently by the gunfire. The Russians on the head of the city tried hard to resist the gunfire and wanted to fight back. However, the firing distance and speed of their artillery were too poor compared with the mortars of the Chinese Emperor's [[***] team.
Even if they gritted their teeth and fired a shot regardless of life and death, it was a question whether they could hit the target. After that, the gun position would immediately be covered by intensive artillery fire. The counterattacks on the wall became more and more sporadic, and more Russians fled the wall and hid into the city.
At the headquarters of the Reading Brigade outside the city, Zhang Jin, the commander of the third battalion of the Reading Brigade, rushed in and shouted to Ye Zhengchang, the commander of the Reading Brigade of the Uginsk Fortress, who was observing the smoke of gunfire and the fire. Brigadier, give the order. The city wall of the East City has collapsed into a gap, and now the Russians inside are panicked.
"Don't worry, continue to shell, let the brothers of Dongcheng concentrate their firepower, and try to bombard a passage for me from the gap in the city wall of Dongcheng." Ye Zhengchang ordered without looking back.
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"Then let's continue to stare at the city?" Zhang Jin's face was full of resentment. The brothers are already impatiently waiting, boss, let the buddies of the artillery battalion hurry up.
"Get out of here, do you think that fortress is made of tofu, and you can make the whole big hole with two cannons? Don't bother me. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten that you take the lead in the third battalion. Ye Zhengchang walked to the table and drank a glass of cold water. Brothers' lives are expensive. It's better to waste more shells than fill them with human lives. Don't you understand this?
"Hey hey, I'm just anxious and scratching in my heart. Don't go to your heart. By the way, Brigadier, after we take the fortress, shall we continue to attack north, or stay here?
Ye Zhengchang shook his head and smiled, "After taking the Ujinsk fortress, we have to rest here first and wait for the order of the military department. You can rest assured that the ultimate purpose of this battle is not only to take down a few fortresses or to encircle and annihire the expeditionary troops sent by the Russians, but to go north and west to include this vast Siberian plain into our territory.
"Do you still have to fight? But what do we want from this land? It's been frozen and snowy here for nearly half a year. It's good to harvest a season of grain a year. Zhang Jin doesn't quite understand.
"Your Majesty values resources and prospects for development. Even if we can't develop this vast land for the time being, our children and grandchildren can enjoy it in the future. And Your Majesty once said that the best way to deal with opponents is to try to strangle the enemy in the cradle before they are strong!"
"You mean that Russia will become a great enemy?" Zhang Jin took out a cigarette and threw it to Ye Zhengchang, and he also smoked it happily. After the fire, Ye Zhengchang took a breath of it happily: "Don't underestimate Russia. Your Majesty said that Russians are very tough, suspicious and extremely proud. And the greedy desire for land far exceeds that of other Western countries. If they expand eastward in the future, it will inevitably pose a huge threat to the northern border of our empire.
"So, I should take advantage of the time when they are trying to expand to the West and fall into the quagmire of chaos and war with the West, to expand north and west, leaving enough room for development and buffer for the future of the empire."
Just as soon as Ye Zhengchang's voice fell, he heard a huge roar from the fortress, and the earth seemed to tremble gently. Before the two of them could react, cheers and shouts came from the command post.
"Report to the brigade commander, most of the east wall of the Uginsk fortress has collapsed under the continuous bombardment of artillery fire." A guard rushed in outside the door and reported loudly.
"Damn it, Brigadier, I'll go first!" Hearing the news, Zhang Jin, the commander of the third battalion who listened to Ye Zhengchang's speech, rushed out of the command post as if he had been shot in the buttocks, and the wind even lifted the curtain.
"What is Battalion Zhang doing?" The guard came to his senses after a long time and stared at the running back and muttered.
"He is worried that the battalion commanders of other battalions will see whether he is there or not and go to grab the head attack of the fortress, this guy." Ye Zhengchang shook his head and answered the guard's question with a smile.
(to be continued)