Struggle in Russia

It has to be said that Dmitry is sometimes overconfident. As an officer in the transition period between the old and new eras, many of his ideas are still affected and constrained by old habits, such as the use of cavalry.

In fact, the cavalry performed very poorly during the Crimean War. Whether it was the death charge of the British cavalry or the unnecessary death of the Cossacks, they did not achieve any decent results.

However, the emergence of firearms, especially automatic weapons and explosive projectiles, has really affected the impact of the cavalry. Charging in a dense formation is equivalent to death, but the impact of cavalry without forming a dense formation is greatly reduced.

What's more, the cost of training and maintenance of cavalry is usually very high. Just taking care of one horse is enough to feed several soldiers.

Calculated in this way, the cavalry can be regarded as a typical example of high investment and low efficiency. In short, Dmitri was not optimistic about the cavalry. He believed that the future cavalry would at most be infantry on horseback. Horses would be converted into a means of transportation, allowing the cavalry to quickly reach the intended battlefield. As for entering the battle, there is no need to ride a horse, because it is not much different from dying.

It is a pity that the Russians these days do not think that the cavalry is outdated. They are still immersed in the past glory of the cavalry and are still vigorously developing the cavalry.

Russia had a large number of cavalry before both World War I and World War II, but the subsequent performance of these troops was really lackluster.

Of course, the fact that the Russians like cavalry is related to the fact that the country is too large and the transportation is relatively backward. The powerful mobility of the cavalry is still attractive.

It's just that this has nothing to do with the current battle, but after the Cossacks rushed into the battlefield, the situation on the battlefield became more complicated.

The rebels were indeed panicked at first, and they were indeed frightened by the saber-wielding Cossacks. But they soon discovered that these Cossacks were not doing well.

The charging speed is very slow, and the formation is also very loose. The large group of people looks scary, but in fact, that's what it is.

Soon the rugged roads and the numerous trenches and fortifications taught the Cossacks a lesson. When they finally rushed in front of them despite the rebel gunfire, the impact was almost zero.

Naturally, it was impossible to defeat the rebels at this level. On the contrary, they suffered heavy losses and had to retreat under the stubborn counterattack of the rebels.

This scene was naturally seen by Dmitri, but he didn't seem particularly surprised or angry. He just said lightly to the staff beside him: "This performance is not enough. Is this the only level of Cossacks?"

Li Xiao was keenly aware that there must be a problem, because Dmitri's tone clearly showed that he was not optimistic about the Cossack attack. But he still ordered them to go, I'm afraid there is something in this!

Of course, there is a saying. The status of cavalry in the Russian army has always been quite high. Since the beginning of the counter-insurgency, the cavalry has fought several beautiful battles, which made their tails rise to the sky.

These cavalry officers began to point fingers and talk loudly about Dmitry's limited level. If they were allowed to use their cavalry, they would have killed the rebels long ago.

Naturally, Dmitry also heard such rumors. He knew that this was because the cavalry could not sit still and had begun to show signs of disobeying the command. He couldn't tolerate this anymore, so he simply taught these cavalry a lesson and let the battlefield teach them how to behave.

Sure enough, under Dmitry's stimulation, the Cossacks became ferocious and launched one wave of fierce charges after another. However, these charges were made with heavy thunder and small rain, and they did not cause any trouble to the rebels at all. On the contrary, They themselves suffered heavy losses.

After rushing like this all morning, they finally couldn't rush anymore and could only lower their heads and tell Dmitri that they tried their best.

After figuring out Dmitri's true intentions, Li Xiao had a deeper understanding of what it means to be kind and not to control troops. Dmitri knew that the cavalry would definitely suffer heavy losses if they rushed to deliver food, but he did not stop him. Instead, he let the cavalry go and deliver the heads. This morning, he paid a heavy price of more than a thousand casualties. Let them know that they should obey.

This education method is really a bit cruel. If it were Li Xiao, he probably wouldn't have done this even though he knew that his own forces were tight. It can only be said that Maozi is just Maozi, but his brain circuit is different.

But he didn't say anything, because Dmitri was the commander, and it was his business to command the troops. At most, Li Xiao could only make suggestions, not overstep his authority.

The only thing that made Li Xiao complain a little was that this morning's sacrifice in vain gave the rebels a chance to breathe, and Odonrich further reduced their formation to consolidate their position. His territory is more consolidated and his troops are more concentrated. In other words, it will be harder to eat him in one bite!

However, Dmitri was still so confident that he re-allocated artillery and moved the mortar positions further forward. The most interesting thing was that Li Xiao saw that he ordered the engineers to start digging trenches. It seemed that he was preparing to copy the Austrian army. Donrich's tactics.

This is the great thing about Dmitri. For him, he will learn any useful techniques and tactics. Even if the work of digging holes seems too rustic and ungrateful, as long as it works, there will be no problem.

Of course, Dmitri didn't just copycats, but selectively absorbed Odonrich's strengths and then used them in his own way.

For example, he did not dig such a long trench, but shortened it appropriately. After all, they now have the firepower advantage on the battlefield and do not need to start digging so far away.

And there is no need to use home-made bulletproof methods such as padding door panels with soil. Odonrich's artillery is small and has almost no direct firepower, so it is impossible to hit the engineers digging trenches.

"It can indeed reduce a large number of casualties," Dmitri observed while making statistics. "The only problem is that it takes too much time..."

Indeed, soil work does take time! Even the work efficiency of engineers and soldiers in turns is only so high, and it is not suitable for certain assault situations that require special attention to time.

But it doesn't matter now. For Dmitry, there is still enough time. If the enemy from the south suddenly comes over, he will definitely not use trenching tactics and will definitely attack at the risk of his life.

"The enemies in the south have no new moves?" Li Xiao asked.

"Not yet. Their marching speed is very stable. They stop and go along the way. Sometimes they have to blackmail friendly troops and plunder food everywhere..."

This is both good news and bad news. Fortunately, the enemy has supply problems, and their food reserves cannot sustain a long-term stalemate. And the bad thing is this. If they can't find enough food along the way, they will definitely try their best to move towards the city. No one can guarantee that they will not take advantage of Srebnoye...