The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 694: Despair, Misjudgment, and Making Friends
In the Ross military camp, Major General Alexander was somewhat excited and secretly delighted, thinking that Count Gudovich would definitely agree to withdraw his troops.

Since the Seris Empire has no intention of continuing its attack westward, this war is meaningless and there is no need to continue fighting.

But Count Gudovich's expression became serious.

Because he understood one thing, that is, how tempting military merit is to soldiers.

It seems that the Seris Empire has no intention of continuing to attack westward, but that is from a national perspective. For soldiers, there is no reason not to take advantage of the military achievements in front of them.

Look at the commander on the opposite side. Did he say "let's both take a step back" or continue to communicate with you on how to withdraw and disengage?

No, nothing!

This shows that the other side has already regarded these several thousand people, and even the more than 10,000 militiamen in Petropavlovka, as military achievements.

"No, the Seris Empire has decided to continue westward. They have captured the Semipalatinsk Fortress but are unwilling to end the war. Instead, they want to continue westward to invade the Third Rome. They may even reach Moscow like they did five hundred years ago and enslave us Slavs once again!"

Count Gudovich exclaimed loudly, appearing extremely indignant, like a wild beast that was forced into a corner and had to launch a desperate counterattack.

Major General Alexander was confused. He looked at Count Gudovich in confusion, thinking that the commander was still unwilling to give up, so there was a hint of impatience on his face.

"Count, it is the Queen's trust that allowed you to come to Western Siberia. You cannot betray this trust. You must be responsible for the loyal Third Roman Warriors here!"

Although Gudovich was a count and an army general, his background was tainted. He was a close confidant of Peter III, the husband of Catherine II.

Catherine II came to power by killing her husband, the previous Tsar Peter III, in a coup.

Moreover, Major General Alexander's ancestors came from a distant branch of the Romanov family. Although he was only a major general, he was actually a powerful figure in Western Siberia, so he was not afraid of Count Gudovich at all.

Count Gudovich sneered and sneered at the serf owner who had been accustomed to a good life in Western Siberia, "How did such a naive waste like you survive until now?"

After saying that, he waved his hand, and two tall confidants of the count pressed Major General Alexander to the ground. Count Gudovich personally stepped forward and cut off half of Major General Alexander's ear with a dagger.

"Warriors of the Third Rome, the Khitans think they have a sure victory and want to kill us all in this icy land.

Major General Alexander, a nobleman of Romanov blood, went to negotiate, but was cut off his ear by the evil Khitans, just like what the Mongol Khan did to our ancestors!

After hearing these words, the shocked Major General Alexander felt that his ears didn't hurt as much anymore.

"Crazy, you must be crazy!" The major general murmured while enduring the severe pain.

"A madman is better than a fool. Cooperate with me, or you will be tortured to death. I promise!"

Count Gudovich said indifferently. Realizing the danger, he had already done whatever it took. He could not bring another disastrous defeat to the empire.

Under the threat of reality, Major General Alexander chose to compromise. The severe pain in his ears made him realize that if he did not obey Count Gudovich, this guy would definitely kill him.

When Major General Alexander appeared in front of the Russian soldiers with his ears stained with blood, the 4,000 Russian soldiers on the hillside were furious without even Count Gudovich's confidants adding fuel to the fire. They shouted insults and vowed to teach the Khitans a lesson.

Hatred and fear of the Mongols from the East are almost the biggest magic weapon for the unity of the Russian Empire, even more useful than the claims of the Roman Empire, at least at this stage.

The next day, early in the morning.

Feeling severely humiliated, the Ross army began to take the initiative to attack. At least one regiment, more than 600 people, launched an attack on the stone building that had been captured by Shi Liudeng.

Shi Liudeng's pressure increased instantly, because Grandpa Qi's mortar weighing dozens of kilograms, which was an improved version of the tiger squat cannon, and the mountain-splitting cannon weighing more than a hundred kilograms could not hit Shilou.

But the six-pound cannon set up by the Russians on the hillside weighed more than 900 kilograms, with shells weighing more than 5 kilograms. Combined with the potential energy bonus brought by hitting low from high, it would definitely be able to hit the stone building.

Fortunately, the Russian Empire's military factories were so corrupt that there were not even many normal workers. They actually let serfs produce artillery. You can imagine the level of their work.

Therefore, the data of these six-pound field guns were not up to standard, so that the elite Russians did not like to use them and abandoned them in Omsk.

If it was really produced by the arsenals of Dayu and France, this stone building would be destroyed in two rounds of salvos.

When Zhu Shedou saw Shi Liudeng lighting the yellow-green smoke signaling urgency, he did not hesitate at all and immediately led the remaining thousand or so people to block the attack.

The Guizhou Regiment fought a fierce battle with the Moscow Regiment of the Russian Army under artillery fire.

Until World War II, the Russians still believed that bullets were fools and bayonets were heroes, and Suvorov happened to be the one who said this.

The soldiers of the Guizhou Regiment, who were mainly composed of Miao and Zhong (Buyi) people, were also very impatient to be lined up for execution. They were obviously much worse than the Han soldiers in terms of discipline, so they were quite keen on hand-to-hand combat.

This was such a coincidence that both sides adopted the same tactics without prior agreement. After firing a shot from a distance, they immediately rushed forward with bayonets to fight. Both sides were playing to their heart's content in their familiar tracks.

The last second, the Russians howled and charged, forcing the Guizhou soldiers in the front to retreat continuously.

The next second, the Guizhou soldiers fired their guns collectively, stunning the Russians. Then they rushed forward and hacked them, causing them to scream in pain.

Commander Zhu Shedou even went to the front, and his bow and arrows flew like locusts, much faster than those of a musket, killing far more people than a musket.

However, Dong Jinfeng, who was far away, was so angry when she saw this scene.

The Guizhou soldiers are indeed brave, but if they fight like this, it would be better not to equip them with muskets.

Of course, this cannot be blamed on Dong Jinfeng, because the real elite of the Dayu Dynasty are not them, but the 120,000 guards.

These talents are the absolute elite of the dynasty. Officers above the rank of captain are all graduates of military academies. Those above the rank of second lieutenant are either from close branches of the families of civil officials, military generals, and meritorious officials, or are from good families whose families have reached the upper limit of land holdings.

The average age of the entire army is no more than 25 years old, but they have more than ten years of experience in learning killing skills. Almost all of them can read and write. Even if the organization is disbanded, they can be reassembled according to military rank.

Compared with them, the combat effectiveness of the Twelve Armies of the Beijing Camp is obviously a level lower, and Dong Jinfeng's Yangwu Army is the one with relatively low combat effectiveness among the Four Wu, Four Yong, and Four Wei Armies.

Because according to the formal sequence, the Yang Camp is one of the Four Wei Armies, which means that there is only the Yang Wei Army, not the Yang Wu Army.

Dong Jinfeng's Yangwu Army, like the Guowu Army, was added after the serial numbers of the Twelve Armies were used up. Otherwise, there would not be such a situation of old officers in their fifties in the Beijing Camp.

The current Beijing Camp is actually the 16th Army of the Beijing Camp, and the 12th Army of the Beijing Camp is just the old name that has not been changed.

Of course, this weak combat capability is relative. These second-rate elites are not inferior to the real elites of Tsarist Russia.

As Count Gudovich reinforced his troops, Dong Jinfeng saw that the Russian army's artillery on the hill was aimed at Zhu Shedou's Guizhou soldiers, and immediately ordered the rest of the Yangwu Army to attack head-on.

This time, the artillery of the Yangwu Army had the advantage. Their four field guns kept bombarding, and each company's two Qiye mortars and one direct-fire mountain-splitting cannon also kept firing.

The Russian army on the mountain relied on the built breastwork to fight back. Taking advantage of the terrain, the Yangwu army attacked several times, but was beaten back by their counterattack.

The situation in the stone building was even more dangerous. The battle lasted until about three in the afternoon. Shi Liudeng and others had used up all their bombs and had few bullets left. They could only defend the top floor and rely on wave after wave of cold weapon attacks to ensure that the Russians could not rush up.

Zhu Shedou also became ruthless. Even though his own front line was not at an advantage, he still separated Wu Bayue's 150 men and sent them to help Shi Liudeng defend the stone building under the artillery fire.

As soon as Wu Bayue left, the pressure on Zhu Shedou suddenly increased. After the veteran's arms ached, he personally took up his spear and went to the front line to fight in hand-to-hand combat, resulting in the deaths of his nephews Zhu Lin, Zhu Li and others, and he had less than 20 personal soldiers around him.

Count Gudovich was watching from the mountain with gritted teeth. He didn't expect that after boosting morale so much, the Russian army couldn't even take back a single stone building, nor could they defeat those shaky Khitan soldiers.

You know, his current advantage is based on artillery bombardment.

In other words, the Russian army's artillery was bombarding Zhu Shedou's Guizhou soldiers, while on the other side, Dong Jinfeng was using his artillery advantage to bombard the defenders on the hill in front of him.

"Fuck you!" Dong Jinfeng was also anxious. "Liu Shuang, take your regiment and let these demons taste the power of the men in Guanzhong."

Liu Shuang responded loudly and immediately led Dong Jinfeng's last reserve team.

These Guanzhong men were elite warriors recruited and trained by the Crown Prince Mo Zhousen himself in Guanzhong last time. They have strong combat effectiveness and fighting will, so they became the top tier as soon as they entered the Yangwu Army.

After Liu Shuang arrived, his tactics were different from before. He fired one round, charged once, stopped to reload, and then charged again.

He personally selected two hundred elite soldiers and had them charge forward armed only with swords and grenades, under the cover of other infantrymen.

Every time these two hundred elite soldiers broke through a Russian infantry behind a breastwork, the rest of the Yangwu Army infantry would immediately follow, and the elite soldiers would continue to charge, leaving the Russians no time to react.

If this had happened at the beginning, it would definitely not have worked, because the Russians at that time still had a strong fighting spirit and their shooting accuracy was also high from a high vantage point.

But at this time, the battle had been going on for almost two hours, the Russians were exhausted, and the smoke and dust caused by the explosion of gunpowder also blocked their vision to a certain extent.

After two breastworks were breached in succession, Count Gudovich had no choice but to release the cavalry.

But Chen Guangyao saw everything clearly from the high place. Since Dong Jinfeng could not observe the direction of the Russian cavalry's movement, he took over the command of the cavalry.

Therefore, as soon as the Russian Cossacks set out, they were blocked. They charged several times but were unable to threaten Dong Jinfeng's Yangwu Army from the flank.

However, the Cossacks were much more clever by this time. They kept circling the hill, trying to lure the Chinese Mo Nan cavalry down the hill, where they would be shot at by the Rus infantry on the hillside. The Mo Nan cavalry, however, did not fall for their trick. The two sides engaged in a game of hide-and-seek, back and forth. The casualties were light, but the scene was dazzling, almost like walking a tightrope. A single mistake would result in great losses.

Count Gudovich on the mountain suppressed his panic and barely held on for another forty minutes.

Seeing that the third breastwork on the front was about to be breached and the stone building still could not be taken, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and order the Moscow Regiment attacking the stone building to withdraw, and then aim the artillery at the main force of the Yangwu Army attacking from above.

Faced with the Russian artillery's turn, Dong Jinfeng had no choice but to order a retreat after holding on for another half an hour.

Otherwise, if they had to stand behind the breastwork dug by the Russians while facing the direct artillery and volley gun fire, the casualties would have been enormous.

Of course, at the first breastwork farthest from the artillery fire, the soldiers of the Yangwu Army still insisted on holding it and did not retreat.

At night, Count Gudovich once again used the Russians' unique skill from the previous Russo-Turkish wars, which was a night attack.

Hundreds of elite Russian soldiers, armed with swords and axes, groped towards the first breastwork.

Coincidentally, Dong Jinfeng thought the same, and the Chinese army was best at night attacks.

So, the two sides met halfway. At first, they thought their people had gotten separated in the dark, but later they realized, damn, it was the enemy who was approaching.

After fighting for a whole night, the Russians realized that the other side would not leave them such a big loophole, so they left dozens of corpses and retreated to the mountain in a hurry.

By the second day, both sides were exhausted because the fight the day before was too brutal.

More than 400 Russians were killed and more than 1,000 were injured, and the number of casualties was still increasing.

Although the injured may not be seriously injured, the probability of surviving after being hit by lead bullets in such a wilderness is not high.

For the 4,000 Russian troops on the mountain, more than 10% were killed and nearly 50% were injured, which is a very scary statistic.

The Yangwu Army was not in a good situation either, with more than 400 casualties, especially Zhu Shedou's Guizhou Regiment, which had more than 200 casualties. Shi Liudeng's Songtao Company was completely wounded, with more than 100 of the 300 people sacrificed.

The number of wounded in the entire army was slightly less than that of the Russians, but it was still close to a thousand.

This fierce battle made both sides understand a truth: the strength of the two sides was very close, and the Yangwu Army had an advantage in weapons, so its combat effectiveness was actually slightly stronger.

The Russians relied on the firepower advantage brought by the geographical location to make up for the shortcomings of their weaker combat effectiveness.

However, this also gave Count Gudovich, who already knew that he could not continue the fight, an illusion.

Because he couldn't imagine what the concept of Dayu's 580 million people meant, he just treated China as a large-scale Russian Empire.

He estimated Dayu by expanding the strength of the Russian Empire and believed that Dayu's guards would have a maximum size of about 30,000 people. Then, the Yangwu Army, as the garrison force of the capital, would be the first-tier elite.

But in fact, Dayu's guards have now expanded to twelve guards, with a total of 120,000 people, and the Beijing camp actually has sixteen camps, with a total of 160,000 people.

In addition, there are at least 100,000 elite garrison troops, Japanese samurai, etc., whose combat effectiveness is not inferior to that of the Beijing camp army such as the Yangwu Army.

Count Gudovich treated the Yangwu Army, which was ranked quite low, as the elite frontline of the Chinese Seris Empire, which would be the biggest failure in his military career.

And this is still a future failure. The impending failure is giving Count Gudovich a headache. He already regrets his impulsiveness.

He should have stayed in Petropavlovka. If Dayu had forced his vanguard cavalry to retreat, he should have waited until the cold wind came and retreated decisively.

With this kind of emotion, when the Yangwu Army launched another strong attack on the third day, Count Gudovich could no longer hold back. After the infantry on the mountain began to waver, he could only force the Cossacks to fight.

Chen Guangyao also seized the opportunity and ordered the Jibei cavalry equipped with half-body breastplate to attack.

After more than three hours of pursuit, the Mongolian cavalry in the south of the desert drove the Cossacks to the designated position regardless of casualties. Then the Jilin cavalry charged on the wall four times and directly defeated these inferior Cossacks. More than a thousand of the more than 3,000 cavalry were killed on the spot.

Count Gudovich on the mountain seized this opportunity, streamlined the 1,200 men who could still fight, abandoned the rest, and had Lieutenant Colonel Andrei lead the rear guard.

However, the Yangwu Army was not equipped with hot air balloons for reconnaissance and failed to detect the movements of the Russian army in time. When they launched the attack on the fourth day, they found that the remaining main force of the Russian army had retreated in the early morning.

Fortunately, they had cavalry and were able to pursue the enemy very quickly. On the afternoon of the second day, the cavalry of the Zhaowuda League caught up with the main force of the Russian army that was crossing the river.

Count Gudovich did not dare to fight any longer. After resisting for a while, he chose to continue running away.

The Zhaowuda League cavalry launched a fierce charge, and the Russian infantry, which had lost its organization, collapsed directly. More than 600 of the more than 1,000 people were left, and only 500 to 600 people swam across the river. Between freezing to death and being killed, they subtly found a way to survive and were almost frozen to death.

On the seventh day, Chen Guangyao and Dong Jinfeng led more than 6,000 people and advanced to Petropavlovka.

Count Gudovich had learned his lesson. Under great pressure, his thinking became clearer.

This Admiral, who was of Ukrainian descent and a Cossack himself, ordered his men to pile up food on the city walls of Petropavlovka and even threw at least half a ton of oats down.

Chen Guangyao understood that this was not a demonstration, but a display of strength and then looking for opportunities for negotiation.

Sure enough, not long after, Count Gudovich's nephew, Brigadier General Vasily, the defender of Petropavlovka, came from the city with a few followers and waved a white flag towards Chen Guangyao's troops outside the city, who had not yet started building a camp.

"Your Highness, if you do not wish to continue your westward offensive and plunge Seris and the Third Roman Empire into an endless struggle, then please consider our terms."

Chen Guangyao chuckled, "Your Excellency, Brigadier General, I believe that even if we capture Petropavlovka, we won't plunge the two empires into an endless struggle, as long as we don't continue to move westward."

"Yes." Brigadier General Vasily admitted very frankly, but then he said: "But we still have more than 10,000 people, and we have enough food to last at least three and a half months, as well as a large amount of gunpowder and lead bullets.

If the war horses were also slaughtered and a strict rationing system was implemented, there would be no problem in sustaining the army for five months.

So, Your Excellency, can you use 6,000 men to attack a city defended by 15,000 people? Even though most of us are militiamen, can you end the war within three months?

Even if they could capture it in five months, it would be considered very fast.

By that time, your food will probably have been eaten up, and there will be no food in the captured cities. Unless you are willing to eat us Russians as cattle and sheep, otherwise, your end will be to starve to death in this ice and snow.

Besides, winter will come in three months, and in five months, it will be freezing near the Semipalatinsk Fortress."

Chen Guangyao thought about it carefully and realized that the situation was indeed like this. The main force of the Russian army had been basically wiped out by him, and there might be only about a thousand people left.

What Count Gudovich wants to protect now are the more than 10,000 militiamen here.

Because if these militias can no longer be retained, not to mention the military losses, in daily production life alone, there will probably not be many men in Omsk to farm.

"Sir, let's see what conditions these Russians can come up with. Our biggest enemies right now are the Khanates of Khiva and Bukhara. There's really no need to push the Russians to death."

This is the reality. Even a murderer like Dong Jinfeng is willing to talk. At this stage, the most important thing is to take over Hezhong.

"Then tell us your conditions. Remember, they must satisfy us." Chen Guangyao thought about it and agreed.

"As long as His Royal Highness's troops retreat thirty kilometers, we will leave Petropavlovka on our own.

"And leave behind two-thirds of the food, all the gunpowder and lead, no less than 500 horses, and all the artillery," Brigadier General Vasily said immediately.

The conditions were quite generous. Chen Guangyao calculated that this was equivalent to feeding 14,000 people for two and a half months, saving three months of food, and enough gunpowder and lead for more than 10,000 people for one month.

War horses are still somewhat useful, but cannons are not very useful. The Russians have few cannons and they are of very poor quality.

With these supplies, the Zhengxi Army and Dingxi Army will have more supplies, enough to sustain them until the attack on Bukhara and Khiva next year.

"Then how can you assure this Duke that you will keep your word?"

“We can have His Royal Highness the Duke send a team of no more than one hundred people into the city to ensure your gains.

At the same time, I, Count Gudovich's nephew, will be held hostage in your camp.

If we don’t keep our promises, then.”

"Then we will all be doomed together. You will not be able to return to Omsk before winter comes, and we will also be in great risk." Chen Guangyao said, he agreed to this plan.

Because he really didn't have time to capture Petropavlovka, the army's food supplies were very low, and he had to retreat south to the Ili River Valley as soon as possible to get food.

This is why Fukangan, Yang Kaijia and others did not return to Jintang City (Semipalatinsk).

So for him, being able to obtain food and ammunition from Petropavlovka was actually an extra gain. Even if the Russians did not keep their promise, his losses would be limited.

“Go back and tell Count Gudovich that I’m happy to be his friend, as long as you keep your promise.

Of course, if you make a promise, I believe you will be the ones who regret it."

(End of this chapter)