Dominate the Country

It was quiet all around, no sound could be heard. No human figures could be seen in the wilderness, only the criss-crossing trenches and foxholes on the yellow land reminded people that this was a battlefield, and they should try not to expose themselves on the ground unless necessary.

The Russian attack on Astrakhan ended in failure. Chen Han's counterattack naturally came.

On the battlefield, it was never the east wind that overwhelmed the west wind, or the west wind that overwhelmed the east wind.

The Russian army retreated step by step from the outer battlefield of Astrakhan, retreated to the position they had arranged at the mouth of the Volga River, and retreated to the small town of New Astrakhan in Russia.

Tens of thousands of Western rockets made the entire battlefield invisible. After the Europeans invented rockets, they also attracted the attention of the Wehrmacht. Although the latter had great shortcomings, their greatest strength was their long range.

Although the existence of the tail fin cannot completely make up for the shortcomings of the rocket, it can also make the rocket better than the same period in history.

No one requires rockets today to have an accuracy of half a meter, thirty centimeters, or even a few centimeters. As long as they can land thirty to twenty meters around the target after flying one or two thousand meters, it is a huge victory. As a weapon, they have their own value.

At least this kind of weapon is cheap, fast to produce, and does not require any advanced technology to operate. It is a good weapon to deal with infantry attacks and long-range attacks.

Even if the amount of explosives in the rocket is small, it is still an explosion, which is much more visually effective than the landing of iron balls. Moreover, this thing can change the formula, from explosion to arson, just a little adjustment is enough.

The explosive power of the rocket is very rubbish. Ten rockets tied together are not as good as a small rocket, but in terms of arson, it is much more convenient to use this thing with a hot bomb.

Now there are no trees or grass on this land. All the trees have been destroyed. The big ones were cut down by the Russians before, and they were consumed on this position as materials for reinforcing fortifications. Even the stumps came in handy and became small tables and primitive stools under the tunnel. The small ones and the weeds all fell under the bombardment of rockets, rocket shells and artillery shells.

Chen Han has launched two large-scale attacks on the Russian defensive positions in front of him, and sporadic battalion-level attacks are every day, but there is no progress.

Astrakhan has sent troops to attack the Russians from the south by land. However, the Russian transportation line on the Volga River still exists, so there is no way to talk about when to capture this place.

If the Volga River is not cut off, the Russians can block it here until next year.

If Chen Han cannot use the Volga River, and there is such a group of Russian troops blocking his doorstep [Astrakhan], it is impossible to really develop the lower reaches of the Volga River.

Battalion staff officer Wang Xipeng sat on a stool cut from a tree stump, holding a notebook in one hand and a pencil in the other, with a hard board underneath, using his knees as a table, and carefully making battlefield records.

This is the homework assigned by the military school teacher.

As a soldier who was not born in a military academy, the 27-year-old Wang Xipeng started as a soldier. It took him eight years to enter the Central China Army Command College in Wuhan as a reserve officer and become a student of this military college. If it were not for this war, he would still be sitting in the spacious and bright military academy classroom, listening to the tactical lessons taught by the instructor, or a group of people were conducting war games under the arbitration of the teachers.

Wang Xipeng is 27 years old this year. He is from Ninghe, Tianjin. He joined the army at the age of 18. He can read and write, and has good calligraphy. However, he does not even have a primary school diploma. He is very good at Chinese, but he is completely at the level of a primary school student in mathematics. This is only because of his father Wang Zhezuo who has been adhering to the old Confucianism for 30 years.

As a staunch old Confucian, Wang Zhezuo's feelings about the new education promoted by Chen Han can be imagined. So when the Wang family was so poor that they could not make ends meet, Wang Xipeng had never been to school for a day before he took the initiative to join the army.

Wang Xipeng started as a soldier in the army, and at the same time, he made up for various knowledge such as mathematics, geography, and world history in the army training class. At the age of 22, he completed the transformation from a sergeant to an officer.

At the age of 24, Wang Xipeng's military rank was promoted from corporal to sergeant. The next year, just one month after Wang Xipeng's 25th birthday, he received an admission letter from the Central China Army Command College.

After the Sino-Russian War broke out, Wang Xipeng and many other military academy students were urgently deployed to the northwest. They were either transferred to the front-line troops of the battalion or to the command headquarters and logistics troops at all levels. They really experienced the operation of this war with hundreds of thousands of people.

Some people must have died on the battlefield, such as Ge Yunfei, a classmate who came with Wang Xipeng. The latter's life trajectory is very similar to Wang Xipeng. The only difference between the two is that they are three years apart in age.

Wang Xipeng has a good relationship with Ge Yunfei. In this war, Wang Xipeng saw his good friend being engulfed by a rocket.

Yes, Ge Yunfei was shattered to pieces.

After the war, Wang Xipeng only found one of his fingers, which had a scar on the upper part. Wang Xipeng judged based on this that this finger belonged to his good friend Ge Yunfei.

The war was in a state of confrontation, and the positions of the two sides were swapped one by one, the attacker became the defender, and the defender became the attacker.

Now it was Chen Han's turn to attack the Russians at night. Both large-scale attacks took place at night. Like the 015 position, the two armies fought hard under the golden sun. Chen Wei and others, who knew the final casualties of that battle, could not bear such a huge number.

But fighting depends on soldiers and human lives. Otherwise, how could the Russian casualties exceed Chen Han's by so much? Moreover, after the huge casualties, even a tough character like Bagration took the initiative to withdraw his troops. The real battle of 015 was promoted as a "meat grinder" by newspapers in many countries such as Chen Han, Japan, and Siam.

The battalion officer of Wang Xipeng's battalion was a good comrade who listened to his superiors very much. He remembered the instructions of the regiment commander and completed them meticulously. And the regiment commander of this regiment, Zheng Guohong, was an enhanced version of a good comrade. He believed in the slogan of the National Defense Forces, "Sweat more before the battle, bleed less during the battle." When it was his turn to go forward, he immediately led his men to repair and reinforce the field fortifications, and urged all battalions to strictly follow the combat regulations to complete, reinforce and deepen the trenches, communication trenches, anti-artillery bunkers, foxholes, etc., meticulously and seriously.

In the early morning, the superiors sent an order that the battalion where Wang Xipeng was had begun to assemble. A new battle was about to start, and all the troops on the front line must be prepared for the battle.

After receiving the order, the battalion officer of Wang Xipeng's battalion immediately ordered his men to prepare for the battle.

On the opposite side, the Russian army also discovered the National Defense Forces' actions and was ready to fight, waiting for the National Defense Forces to come.

But this wait lasted for a whole morning. Seeing that it was noon, the National Defense Forces still did not launch an attack. Wang Xipeng was a little impatient, and he himself was a little impatient waiting.

Although the attack would kill people, and many people would die, even himself. But this is like a knife hanging over your head. Is it more scary when the knife has already fallen, or is it more frightening when it is hanging but not falling?

In order to calm down, divert attention, and finish the "homework" as soon as possible, Wang Xipeng took out his notebook and pencil.

However, he couldn't concentrate. After writing a few lines, Wang Xipeng couldn't concentrate anymore, so he put the notebook back into his military uniform pocket and stuck the pencil into the crack of the tree stump stool. He stood up and looked west with a telescope.

There was still no movement on the opposite side.

After lunch, until three o'clock in the afternoon. The shouts of "Check weapons!" finally rang out on the National Defense Army's position.

Wang Xipeng was in the trench, shouting to the left and right twice. Although he was a staff officer of the battalion headquarters, he was just a middle-level officer on the front line.

The soldiers were silent and checked their weapons. The firepower team should also pay attention to the rockets. If there is a problem with the ignition mechanism when the rocket is launched, it will be terrifying enough.

On the battlefield, only the heavy breathing of the soldiers, the rustling of rubbing bayonets and stuffing grenades into their waists can be heard.

Wang Xipeng quietly poked his head out and looked around. He could see some vague shadows making preparations. This offensive war will require at least three battalions. And small groups of troops have entered the position behind the defense line. Some of them jumped into the trench where Wang Xipeng was, and brought him more than a dozen heavy crates. They were all grenades and rockets.

"Don't be nervous. Stay calm! Keep a distance from your companions, but don't pull too far."

"Rockets are blind. They will come if they come. Who knows where they will fly to? If they fall to the north, it's the north. If they fall to the south, it's the south. If they fall on our heads, it's our bad luck. Don't be afraid of bullets. We are infantrymen and we can crawl. Always pay attention to the terrain around you. When you feel danger, lie on the ground. It's best to have a pit for you to hide."

Wang Xipeng was sweating in his palms. Attacking the opponent's defense line in broad daylight would cost a lot of sacrifice. The only lucky thing for him was that he was in the National Defense Army, not the Seven Khanates Army. The latter's fighting spirit was questionable.

The observation balloons on both sides rose very high. The Chinese artillery bombardment was coming, and the Russian artillery was ready to fire.

Wang Xipeng seemed to hear the movement on the left. He turned his head and looked over there. In an instant, he seemed to see many figures appear. He raised the telescope to look again, but the position over there was empty. The vague figures that had appeared on the horizon just now had all disappeared, as if it was just an illusion.