Dominate the Country

That night, Dokhturov didn't fall asleep in Tara Town. He was always paying attention to the fierce battle on the front line and was always nervous about the news from the rear.

Turinsk was already like this. Both the Chinese and the Russians put all their strength on this chess game, but they were just appetizers, and the main forces of each other were still hidden behind this battlefield.

Dokhturov was now afraid of receiving news suddenly. He had lost contact with His Majesty Alexander in the rear, and there was an additional Chinese blocking force among them. In that case, Dokhturov would need to switch from offense to defense.

Although the Russian army could indeed bypass the Turinsk road and continue to march towards Astrakhan. But those country roads and unattended fields were even more muddy and difficult to walk on at this time.

Even the muddiest roads were better than the country roads, which was something every Russian knew. Russia is not as rich as China. Not only has it built many wide national highways that stretch thousands of miles from east to west and north to south, connecting cities thoroughly, but it has also built solid rammed earth roads in the countryside.

It is said that even in the southern part of China, where the rainfall is the highest, heavy carriages can run briskly on the country roads during the heaviest rain in summer. Unlike Russia, from Moscow to St. Petersburg, no road can withstand the erosion during the spring thaw period.

But these are not reasons for Dokhturov to be careless.

The Chinese drove away the Russians here on a large scale, and now Dokhturov has no idea about the movements of the main Chinese forces. Who can guarantee that they will not come from the more muddy right bank of the Volga River or the countryside southwest of Turinsk to get behind him?

Dokhturov anxiously waited for the arrival of dawn.

If everything goes well, he will receive news from Admiral Bagration at five o'clock in the morning, which is also evidence of the smooth communication between the Russian army and the front and back.

Dokhturov circled the headquarters again and again, expressionless, exuding an inexplicable aura.

All orders had been issued, and one-third of the soldiers were on guard, but when the battle started, he could no longer calm down. He paced around the room, sometimes sitting down at a table covered with maps. His brain was turning quickly, trying to guess the possible actions of the Chinese.

The headquarters, the village, and the huge Russian barracks were all silent. In the evening, Dokhturov sent adjutants to inspect the troops and check the troops' entry into the positions. Soldiers were talking quietly or eating by the campfire. Many fellow villagers gathered together to discuss how to let the survivors convey their last words to their relatives. Some soldiers who were related to each other gathered together and said goodbye quietly. Many soldiers were wiping their weapons or staring thoughtfully at the deep night sky in spring.

Then the battle started.

Dokhturov hoped that the Russian army would make a breakthrough tonight, so that they could knock on the door of Astrakhan!

Hundreds of Russian artillery began to attack the Turinsk position, and the Wehrmacht artillery immediately retaliated.

The sound of the artillery startled Pan Chang, who walked out of the room calmly, mounted his short chestnut horse, and walked towards the command post of the central main position. He stood on a watchtower and looked in the opposite direction. Along the avenue above Turinsk, the Russian army with torches was dotted, like fire snakes of different sizes winding and swimming.

In the dark night, the fire of guns and cannons flashed. Fierce gunfire continued to come from the battlefield. The two armies were fighting fiercely.

Two hours later, the Russian army began to attack the position, not only the main position, but also the left and right wing positions.

At 4:30 in the morning, Pan Chang received the latest battle report from the left wing, and he had a preliminary judgment in his mind - the Sanqiu position was about to be lost.

Sure enough, two hours later, a regiment of Russian troops quietly approached the south side of the Sanqiu position under the cover of morning fog and suddenly launched an attack. The Wehrmacht guarding there resisted tenaciously. But while the Russian army launched an attack on the left wing defense line from the south, Dokhturov also sent another team to attack the Sanqiu position head-on.

The Sanqiu position was not the main position, it was just a forward stronghold of the real second-line position on the left wing, and Pan Chang only placed a reinforced battalion there to guard. Because it was attacked from both sides by the Russian army, the Wehrmacht fought back hard, and half of the 800 officers and soldiers were killed, but they still failed to withstand the Russian attack and had to retreat to the next line of defense.

The morning fog was the last cover for the Russian army. Dokhturov received the news from Bagration after dawn, and then he sent a lot of scouts to the surrounding area - even sent troops to the other side of the Volga River for reconnaissance. After ensuring that there was no other large Chinese army within a radius of 20 miles, Dokhturov's only hope was to make a breakthrough on the Turinsk battlefield.

The morning fog was the last cover for the Russian army, and also their last hope.

When the white fog dissipated and the golden sun rose into the sky, the price paid by the Russian army to attack again would be extremely tragic.

In the previous Meligino Village, the Russian army launched an attack at night, just because they attacked Meligino, the Chinese could also tilt a lot of firepower there. A night of fierce fighting caused the loss of 4,000 Russian soldiers. What a huge price.

The Chinese have a strong reserve of firepower, their rockets are endless, and relying on the waterway of the Volga River, their transportation capacity is much stronger than that of the Russian army. So in the daytime, when the power of the rockets can be maximized, how many people will have to die to rush to the Chinese position.

Time passed little by little while Dokhturov was thinking.

The sun finally bloomed its own rays of light, and the golden sunlight pierced the white fog like long needles made of gold.

The sound of gunfire on the battlefield stopped, leaving only the painful wails of the wounded.

A team with a white flag, wearing white clothes and a red cross symbol on them walked out of the Russian position. Chen Han did not fire a shot, watching the army carry the wounded but not dead Russian soldiers back to their positions.

This is the European military doctor. The red cross is used as the symbol of medical staff, corresponding to the green gourd on the Chinese side. Yes, the symbol of Chinese medical staff is a green gourd, which symbolizes traditional Chinese medicine.

Chen Ming's initial idea was to promote Shennong, who tasted hundreds of herbs and came up with Chinese medicine. But a question came up, what symbol should Shennong use to represent it? You can't just embroider two Chinese characters or a portrait, right? So, just choose a gourd. In the Chinese medicine shop, every household will hang a gourd mark, so let's use a gourd. As for the color of the gourd, compared with yellow, Chen Ming prefers cyan. Yellow symbolizes the earth, and cyan symbolizes life.

Pan Chang was gathering the troops that were scattered at night at this time. Yesterday, Chen Han's casualties were not small. Three thousand people, together with the losses in the battle of Meligino, Turinsk has reduced five thousand people.

Many battalion formations were in chaos on the battlefield. Some officers could control fifty or sixty people, but those who were the original veterans might not even have thirty people.

In the dark night, the troops fought hand-to-hand with the Russian army several times, and they became chaotic as they fought.

Pan Chang has less than 15,000 men in total, and now he has lost more than one-third of them. Although Pan Chang knows that he can use the ferry to go to the other side of the Volga River, or even take a boat directly back to Astrakhan, his mission here is to weigh the combat effectiveness and fighting passion of the main force of the Russian army. If he can slow down the pace of the Russian army as much as possible, it will be even better.

And Pan Chang knows that there has always been a national defense army hidden on the other side of the Volga River. But the role of this force is only to support Pan Chang, not to take advantage of the loopholes to attack the Russian army.

Turinsk is not the final battle site set by Wei Baocheng. Astrakhan is the place where the two armies will decide the outcome. Dokhturov's worries are unnecessary.

Because the further east this battle goes, the longer the front line is, and the greater the disadvantage of the Russian army - their supply transportation is a big problem that cannot be solved in the short term.

Without two or three months, the Russian army cannot dredge the Volga River at all.

If Alexander I really had the guts, he should have stopped the army in Tsaritsyn, recuperated for a while, and sent people to dredge the Volga River, and then the waterways were launched, and the mud in the spring had passed, and then he would march eastward to Astrakhan with great fanfare.

Although the Vladikavkaz Fortress is likely to be lost in such a long time, the Astrakhan Fortress will be greatly strengthened and repaired in Chen Han's hands, and the Russian army will face great troubles, but this can at least ensure the smooth flow of Russian supplies and the recovery of soldiers' energy.

Although the Russian army is now full of fighting spirit, it is clear that their current physical strength is definitely below the level.

It has been more than half a year since the war with Napoleon last year. They have been fighting and marching for such a long time, and even the Iron Army will feel tired.

But Alexander I obviously didn't think so. Compared with stopping in Tsaritsyn, he would rather take back Astrakhan in one go.

As long as Astrakhan is taken back, even if Guryev and the Ural River are lost, he can accept it.

Perhaps, the power of spirit can really make the Russian army burst out with stronger and more lasting combat power and endurance than in normal state. Who knows.

Alexander I wanted to "make a strong effort", and the Russian generals also wanted to make a strong effort.

And now the Russian army in the small Turinsk, on a battlefield without permanent concrete fortifications, they paid nearly twice as many casualties as the Chen Han army, but only knocked down a corner of the left wing of the defenders.