Dominate the Country

The warm sunshine sprinkled on the fields of the Volga River. As the sunny weather had lasted for several days, the roads became muddy due to the melting of ice and snow. The fleeing Russian civilians moved their feet with difficulty on the muddy road. As for the cars and heavy equipment, they had all abandoned them.

The green vitality of the forest not far away was eye-catching.

Spring has arrived, but this did not bring hope to the Russians. The heavy spring rain and the melting ice and snow made the roads difficult to walk. The unlucky ones were not only the Russian civilians driven west by Chen Han’s army, but also the Russian army and Chen Han’s army.

Chen Han blocked many Volga River channels. As the mother river of Russia, the Volga River is like the Yellow River, with twists and turns and varying widths. Sometimes it can be as wide as more than ten kilometers, and sometimes it is only a few hundred meters. Chen Han failed to capture Tsaritsyn. The Russian army recruited a large number of civilians to participate in the battle. When the Wehrmacht retreated, it sank many ships into the narrow part of the Volga River.

Breaking through the thick ice on the Volga River, the ships loaded with earth, sand and stones were sunk. As a result, the Russian army had to travel hard on the muddy land during its eastward advance.

Some warships of the Caspian Fleet that had previously hid in the upper reaches of Tsaritsyn before the Volga River froze were now trapped in Tsaritsyn.

This was really difficult for both the army and the civilians.

But even so, this road full of silt and puddles was crowded with people. Almost all those walking from west to east were soldiers, and those walking from east to west were all civilians fleeing.

After surviving the cold winter, the Chinese began to drive out Russian civilians in the lower reaches of the Volga River and the Caucasus on a large scale. They did not loot property or food, but they would burn villages and even towns.

When the Chinese issued an order to "leave" a place, if the Russians did not leave by the deadline, they would directly set fire to everything that could be burned. No matter how much property was hidden inside, no matter how many people were inside.

Such a seemingly merciful but actually ruthless rule forced hundreds of thousands of Russians to flee their hometown.

This could cause great trouble to the Russian army advancing eastward. First of all, their mass base was gone, and the secrecy of Chen Han's military mobilization was greatly enhanced; secondly, so many refugees needed to be resettled, which would inevitably involve a lot of energy from the Russians.

And this move did contain the Russian army, although it made Russia hate China even more.

Whether they were poor or rich, they were expressionless and hurried on the road of escape, and their luggage was also heavy. Although they had abandoned enough things before, some tough Russians directly set the whole house on fire before leaving their homes.

Fortunately, the cold winter has passed. Although the nights in the spring of the Volga River are still cold, they can finally survive. Moreover, the Chinese only drove them westward, but did not ask them to go west as quickly and quickly as possible. These Russian civilians can be less anxious on the road of escape.

Therefore, the troops transferred from St. Petersburg to the east met them. Then, many Russians became volunteers for the Russian transport troops. They used all their strength to transport food and munitions to the Russian army, dragging the heavy cannons on the muddy road.

Just because they hate the Chinese in their hearts!

This is Turinsk, a city on the west bank of the Volga River, 200 kilometers away from Astrakhan, which is between Astrakhan and Tsaritsyn. It is a small city with no decent industry and not too many residents. The total population is less than 10,000 people-including the villages within 20 to 30 miles outside.

But since this is a large wharf in the lower reaches of the Volga River, it is also a key point of land transportation from Astrakhan to Tsaritsyn. Therefore, Turinsk became an important hub for east-west transportation. The city received a notice from Chen Han half a month ago, asking them to evacuate the city within ten days. Now, the narrow road section in the northwest, which is still a hundred miles away from the city, is crowded with refugees and reinforcements of the Russian army.

Astrakhan was just captured by Chen Han last month, and the latter paid a considerable price, so the published battle report stated a "fact" - because the Russian army resisted tenaciously, they often fought to the last moment in the fortress of the fortress and did not surrender the last man, so since Major General Pokrov, the 7,000 Russian troops guarding Astrakhan were completely wiped out. The result of no one "surrendering" is that no one was "captured", that is, all "killed in battle".

Such a battle report is a bit fake no matter how you look at it. It is impossible for an army with all members killed in battle and no one surrendered in this era.

Meloyarsky still insisted on staying in Tsaritsyn, and Tsar Alexander I was reported to have rushed to Balashov, and the vanguard of the Russian army had crossed Tsaritsyn. There were only a hundred miles left to Tulinsk.

Tulinsk was the first battlefield that Chen Han prepared for Russia.

Although this city, which Chen Han had just completed the task of driving out, was not a fortress, nor even a big town, and there was no favorable terrain, Wei Baocheng, Chen Wei and others felt that Chen Han could not retreat any further.

Astrakhan still needed time to repair the city defenses and the outer positions. When the Russian reinforcements arrived at Tsaritsyn, Chen Han chose to retreat without hesitation. But Chen Han could choose to retreat in Tsaritsyn, but he could not retreat in Astrakhan.

Once he retreated, Chen Han would be at a disadvantage in the Caucasus battlefield.

So Chen Han would not retreat in Astrakhan. And Turinsk was the first battlefield for them to weigh the combat effectiveness of the Russian army on the Western Front.

The Russian army on the Western Front was not like their counterparts on the Eastern Front. They had previously driven Napoleon out of Russia in a mess with the tricolor flag.

Murat, who Napoleon stayed in Warsaw, quickly signed an armistice agreement with Russia on behalf of France. Lithuania was completely sold to Russia, and most of Poland, which had been occupied by Russia before, became Russia's "sacred and inviolable territory."

There were no other conditions.

The Russians were eager to deal with the Ottomans and Chen Han in the East. No matter how much Alexander I hated Napoleon, he could not send troops to participate in the war against France when his old nest was unstable.

So the two countries abandoned unrealistic conditions and quickly signed an armistice agreement while maintaining the pre-war Russian sphere of influence. The only change was that Napoleon promised Russia that he would not support the restoration of Poland.

The Grand Duchy of Warsaw can only be the Grand Duchy of Warsaw. Similarly, Lithuania can only be the Tsar's Lithuania.

Russia got the guarantee they wanted most. If Napoleon before the war was willing to make such a promise to St. Petersburg, perhaps Russia would not be so determined to stand on the side of the British.

Of course, European politicians all know that the entente and the treaty are just a piece of waste paper for the strong party. For the strong, signing a treaty is to tear up the treaty in the future.

If possible, St. Petersburg also hopes to bury Napoleon in hell completely. But they can't do anything!

The half-crippled Napoleon returned to his old nest to face a more difficult test. Because of the British, because of the Iberian Peninsula, because of Spain and Portugal.

The main force of the Russian army was divided into two, one part moved to Ukraine and the Black Sea; the other part walked on the heavy snow in winter and came from the western end of northern Europe to the eastern end.

Compared with the Ottoman Empire, Russia obviously values ​​China more. Alexander I did not even return to St. Petersburg once, and followed the army directly to the Eastern Front.

Now the commander-in-chief of the Russian army is no longer Tukuzov. Kutuzov, who is seriously overweight and in poor health, resigned after driving Napoleon out of Russia. He was replaced by Barclay, who performed well in the Battle of Borodino, but the commander-in-chief of the Russian army on the Eastern Front was Peter Ivanovich Bagration, who was lucky to save his life in the Battle of Borodino.

A winter allowed Bagration to recover from his injuries, and at the same time, the "Iron General" Dmitry Sergeyevich Dokhturov served as his deputy.

Dokhturov, 56 years old, is a hero in this Russian war for the country. He has 32 years of military experience. When the Russo-French War broke out last year, he served as the commander of the 6th Army, led the army to break through the Lida area, and participated in the Battle of Smolensk. He initially served as the central commander of the Russian army in the Battle of Borodino. After Bagration was injured, he served as the left wing commander. When the French army retreated from Moscow, the troops under his command advanced to Maloyaroslavets in time, and the troops under the command of General Nikolai Nikolayevich Raevsky were two "hungry wolves" that were biting Napoleon.

The Russian army's reinforcement troops to the Eastern Front were as many as 140,000, and more than 50,000 Russian recruits were gathering in Moscow. The relatively large population, powerful mobilization mechanism, and cheap soldier costs make Russia's war potential very huge.

If the production of the Russian army's new rifles was always limited, and a large amount of weapons needed to be transported to St. Petersburg by sea by the British, which inherently limited the expansion of the Russian army's strength, St. Petersburg would definitely be able to pile up its army to one million at once.

Now that the Russian army has freed its main force from the war with Napoleon, the pressure on St. Petersburg has been greatly reduced, but the number of the Russian army's main corps has also been greatly reduced.

A series of battles on the Western Front caused the Russian army to lose more than 100,000 people, and this is just the regular army. The resistance forces organized by the Russian people also paid a bloody and heavy price. Alexander I brought 140,000 main forces to the east this time, and Russia could only use a group of new recruits and second-line troops to fight in Ukraine and the Black Sea.

The letter sent by the European Office was sent to the northwest front by Chen Ming early. The 140,000 main forces of the Russian army after the fierce battle with Napoleon were obviously the most combat-capable army in Russia. It was a bit risky to place them directly in Astrakhan, so Turinsk, located right between Astrakhan and Tsaritsyn, became a battlefield for testing.

Almost no refugees with old and young were willing to follow the Russian army back to their hometowns. They would not return to the Volga River until the war was over. They had "nothing" and they had to go to a city with social order so that they could get relief and the food they needed most.

And this was also out of fear of war and distrust of the Russian army.

Although they had just defeated the arrogant Napoleon on the Western Front, their current opponent was the powerful Chinese. Although it had been many years since China and Russia fought, all Russians knew that China was strong.

No matter how patriotic a person is, he cannot ignore the facts. This is like a battle between a wild wolf and an elephant. The wolf is very fierce, but the elephant is more invincible. No one will favor the wolf.