Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 1689 Albazin ([-])

In the midsummer of 1674, by the Zeya River.

Liu Jianguo, who had just recovered from a severe cold, looked at the green wheat seedlings growing in the outskirts of the city with a satisfied expression.This is all agricultural production resumed under his auspices. It is really not easy to resume production under the unfavorable circumstances of severe shortage of materials and panic.

Although a lot of food was transported downstream in the summer and autumn last year, it is a little bit to be able to save a little, and one's own hematopoietic ability is also very important.You know, the more than 4000 soldiers I have are all strong men drawn from several counties downstream. They are the main labor force in the family. Production must have been affected—according to the letter from the captains who delivered the goods before, the agricultural production of these smoked families has been affected to varying degrees. It all depends on the local government for food relief, otherwise life will be miserable It's sad. Speaking of which, this is the limitation of the militia and reserve soldiers. After all, farming is still their main business!

And when it comes to the militia and professional soldiers, Liu Jianguo, the leader of the Blackwater Pioneering Team, has a lot to say.In his view, this is an unconventional method with no alternatives, and it cannot be focused on, otherwise it will suffer a lot.But in the outer Northeast, the actual professional soldiers are only the Third Infantry Regiment of the First Division of the Liaodong New Army, and because the defense range is too large, they cannot be separated and cannot take care of various places. Militia, that's the problem.

In fact, the reason why Jieya, Hailanpao, and Wusan counties in the outer northeast were attacked this time is inseparable from this.The only group of professional soldiers was attracted by the Qing army in Naowen City to the south along the Songhua River, and there were only a few scattered and small garrison soldiers in the outer northeast region, which could barely be regarded as professional soldiers. There are militias, but the militias do not usually assemble, which brings great hidden dangers to defense.

The Russians must have figured this out long ago.However, due to the good relations between East and Russia, Russia relied a lot on the east coast, so the conflicts between the two sides in the outer northeast were suppressed, and even the tsar himself sacrificed part of the interests of the Far East in exchange for various technical assistance and investment. Including the meaning, after all, westward expansion is the first choice of the Russian Empire.

As a result, there was an unexpected situation, and the people on the east bank rashly intervened in the Racine uprising, not only sacrificing many intelligence personnel trained for many years, but also greatly offending the Russian nobles headed by the Tsar (after all, Racine was not merciless in killing nobles, which aroused them. The psychology of hatred and hatred), the commercial stations in Moscow and Arkhangelsk were immediately closed, the Star Shipyard was forcibly nationalized, the Arkhangelsk gun repair plant was forcibly nationalized, and diplomatic and business personnel were expelled , technicians were forcibly naturalized in Russia, and the loss was quite large.

Not to mention, the tsar may not be able to swallow this breath, so he directly loosened the tie on Yakutsk in the Far East, so that they no longer have to be shy when facing the people on the east coast, and they can fight back with confidence, which leads to A series of events happened later.Frantzbekov and Baikov laid the foundation for the two warlords, and Yugovich gave a fatal blow, which caught the somewhat careless people on the east coast by surprise. The effect was very good.

Now, the Russians in the three counties of Zeya, Udi, and Hailanpao have been greatly weakened, and they have more than 500 professional Cossack soldiers. In addition, there are more than 1000 serf militias that can be mobilized. Their strength should not be underestimated. .Among them, the [-] shooting army officers and soldiers who came to aid from Moscow were divided into two, [-] people guarded Nerchensk, and [-] people were controlled by Stepanov; there were [-] soldiers in Albazin Castle. Professional soldiers defending, if you add [-] serfs who can be mobilized, it should be able to defend for a long time, provided that the people on the east coast do not have heavy siege artillery.

To be honest, people on the east bank are not very clear about the deployment of Russian troops, or the information they know is still very outdated. Cossack infantry guards and so on.

Correspondingly, of course, the Russians don't know much about the strength and deployment of the troops on the east bank. They only estimate that the people on the east bank may mobilize about "nearly 3000" troops to attack Albazin and even Nerchensk. However, there is no spectrum at all for the weapons and equipment it may carry, so we can only look at it when we fight.

Therefore, this time the people from the east bank will conquer the area around Albazin Castle in the west. It will be a battle without end for both Russia and the east bank. It will depend on who plays well at that time.However, in Liu Jianguo's view, his own side, which has inland river shallow water gunboats and 72-ton small steamers to transfer materials and personnel, is basically in an invincible position.

The reason why I say this is not because Albazin Castle is located on the riverside. It can be said that it is backed by mountains and facing the river, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack.Of course, this kind of easy defense and difficult attack will not work for the people on the east bank who have the advantage of water, because Heilongjiang is their smooth road at this time, and it is a logistics line that the enemy cannot destroy. As long as Heilongjiang is still there, the logistics of the people on the east bank will last forever Both are sufficient, and this advantage is enormous.

"The last batch of gunpowder and shells has arrived! I've waited for so long, and it's pointless to wait any longer. I'm afraid the morale of the army will be shaken. Let's start as soon as possible." Shocked, he said to himself: "The Russians, I think they were ready last year, right? It turned out that they waited for an extra year in vain. Hehe, I'm really sorry..."

After inspecting the agricultural villages in the suburbs, Liu Jianguo returned to Jieya County, and then issued orders immediately, ordering a total of 4000 troops (only a few were left to guard Jieya County), and took away the large stockpile in Jieya County. Some of the supplies were headed overland to Albazin Castle, and it was already June 1674, 6.

On June 6, No. 30 days after the departure of the brigade, a transport fleet led by four inland river shallow water gunboats also quietly left Hailanpao, fully loaded with much more supplies than the army had carried with them before, heading towards Drive to the upper reaches of Heilongjiang.Their speed was extremely fast, and it took only a few days to reach the outskirts of the Russian Albazin Castle.

Of course, the Russians don’t have heavy artillery for coastal defense, so they can only watch the arrogant gunboats on the east bank drive up and down the river. From time to time, they approach the north bank of the Amur River and bombard the shore with several small and medium-caliber artillery on one side. It really killed and injured a dozen unlucky Russian soldiers, which frustrated the enemy's morale.

Alexei Tolbuzin, who served as the key garrison officer of the Albazin Castle, had an unusual atmosphere, but he could do nothing about it. He knew that he would take the warships of the people on the east coast (this kind of small gunboat, for the Russians, was already It’s an incredible big ship) There is no way, so I can only tell my subordinates not to worry about him, and stick to it with peace of mind. Stepanov is wandering outside with two thousand Cossacks, ready to deal a fatal blow to the people on the east bank at any time.

On July 7, just when the Russians had become accustomed to the east bank gunboats on the river, nearly 8 east bank infantrymen, led by Liu Jianguo, trekked overland to the outskirts of Albazin Castle.Fortunately, they did not encounter any obstacles from the Russian army along the way. Except for some suspicious Tungus tribesmen who spied from a distance and were expelled by the cavalry, the legendary Cossack cavalry disappeared without a trace. Later, the army captain Kurhan, who assisted Liu Jianguo in command, was very disappointed.

It was the afternoon of the day when the army from the east bank arrived. As a result, before everyone had time to rest, they devoted themselves to the intense work of fortification construction.The site where they built the fortification was located near the pier in Albazin. A large number of wooden piles, barbed wire, deer villages, and horses that had been loaded on the ship for a long time were unloaded, and then a rough camp was pulled out so that the army could carry out at night. camp.

Of course, it is impossible for the Russians to sit back and watch the east bank army repair the fortifications so blatantly, so Tolbuzin sent a cavalry to rush out of the fortress to attack the slightly chaotic east bank camp under construction, trying to delay or even Interrupting the actions of the people on the east bank, they had to retreat under the cover of the fierce firepower of the gunboat, and they were also chased by the cavalry on the east coast when they retreated, killing and injuring dozens of people.

After the failure of the daytime operation, the Russians organized another surprise attack that night. As a result, they were repulsed by the armed forces on the east coast again, and dozens of corpses were lost.In this night attack war, two militia teams performed poorly. They panicked, made loud noises, and their positions were a little chaotic. After Liu Jianguo found out, he also had a headache, but there was no good solution. Transferred to the inner line of the dock, while strictly rectifying, let them be responsible for guarding the supplies and guarding the base camp, so as not to be embarrassing when they are deployed outside.

On July 7, the army on the east bank, which had initially stabilized its position, launched a tentative attack on Albazin Castle under the order of Liu Jianguo, but the result was not satisfactory.During this battle, they found that the Russian army had a large number of soldiers, probably nearly a thousand, and a large number of muskets, basically one man. People couldn't help but wonder if this is still the Russian army that has always been suffering.

In addition, although the castle has a mixed civil-engineering structure, it is still relatively strong, and it cannot be solved by the army's light field artillery. Artillery positions began to be built outside the city walls.In fact, at this time, Liu Jianguo still hoped that the Russians would rush out again and try to destroy the artillery positions on the east bank. What a day looks like.

On July 7, the four artillery positions were built, and then they couldn't wait to pour ammunition towards Albazin Castle. After the 13-pound solid iron was ejected from the chamber, it slammed into the wall with a mighty force. Although the outer layer of the city wall was smeared with a lot of mud, it could absorb the kinetic energy of the shell to the greatest extent, but it still generated uncontrollably under the continuous bombardment. There was a crack, and large pieces of soil were knocked off the city wall, exposing the giant log inside.

Some Russians rushed over yelling, as if they were planning to repair the wall, but the shells of the people on the east coast were too dense, as if they didn't care about the consumption of gunpowder and shells (the ammunition destroyed in a day today, It is almost a quarter of the total ammunition of the Russian artillery in the Albazin Castle, which is also terrifying), and the sawdust flying around after the log was hit by the shell killed some personnel, and the army field artillery from time to time Some explosive bombs were shot in the past. Although the misfire rate was not low, it also beat the Russians to the ground, and it was impossible to repair the city wall.

On July 7th, just as the people on the east bank blasted a small gap in the city wall of the Albazin Fortress, and were planning to make persistent efforts to expand the gap, the troops led by Onufri Stepanov also Arrived at the periphery, threatening the safety of the east bank army that was attacking the city.

At this time, Kurhan, a veteran of the army and a native of Giliak, took over the command in an emergency, ordered the shrinking of the defense line, deployed the main force at the dock camp and the front line of the heavy artillery, and used the built field fortifications to reach Sijie. A possible attack by the Panoff Group.Of course, they did not stop their previous work during this period. The four heavy artillery were still under the protection of the army soldiers (each artillery position itself was a solid fortification) and bombarded the city wall, smashing the crumbling wooden city wall together with many Russian serfs were beaten to pieces together.

On July 7, the Stepanov Group launched a tentative attack on the East Bank Army, and it was a big deal: a thousand Cossack cavalry from Yakutsk launched a group charge!The roaring Russian cavalry put tremendous pressure on the militiamen on the east bank. Some of them turned pale and kept swallowing saliva, looking extremely nervous; The Cossack cavalrymen squeezed the body of the gun with both hands, and their knuckles were a little white; some people started shooting out of range, completely ignoring the orders of the officers and non-commissioned officers-I believe that if there were no wooden stakes and barbed wire at this time. If they are protected, these militias may loosen their positions, allowing the Russians to seize the opportunity.

Fortunately, the performance of the artillery brothers is quite impressive!This highly technically demanding unit has a high proportion of veterans. I saw that these people were not panicked at all. Under the order of the officer, they dispatched seven or eight light land field artillery, and then pointed at the densely populated Russian cavalry through the barbed wire. The Russian soldiers, who were caught off guard by the bombardment, turned on their backs, and their formation was a little chaotic.

The artillery brothers counterattacked calmly and accurately, which more or less stabilized the infantry's position.Some people reacted, and then under the organization of the officers, they fired at the Cossack cavalry with a volley of guns, and achieved some results.Their actions also inspired more militiamen. Soon, large clouds of black mist floated on the east bank position, and the sound of guns gradually became denser. With the sound, the offensive of thousands of Cossack cavalry was successfully disintegrated. They left behind seventy or eighty corpses, and then circled in a dejected manner before retreating to the main formation in the distance.

Stepanov is also an old man who knows that the first charge is the best time, because many recruits may be flustered.But if this fails to rush down, then it is basically impossible to forcefully rush down from the front, so we can only think of other ways.

"The Russians are poor!" Kurhan laughed when he saw this, and ordered four heavy artillery to continue the bombardment. It was necessary to widen the gap on the south wall of Albazin Castle to facilitate the advance of the infantry behind.

(End of this chapter)