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  Chapter 994 990 [epoch-making air strike]

   Yenisei Warlord Bashkov is very busy, often leaving his warlord's garrison and running to the east of Lake Baikal for a walk.

   Chita and Nerchinsk castles were built under his order!

  After the Chita Castle was built, Bashkov simply stayed. He not only had to guard against the Datong Army, but also the Buryat Mongols and Sauron. Because the area around Lake Baikal was originally the territory of the Buryats, while Nerchinsk was the territory of the Saurons.

  Before the Nerchinsk Castle was built, the Cossacks were even overthrown by the Buryat and Sauron forces. The Warlord fled quickly with dozens of remnants by boat.

   Various encounters made Bashkov not only order the repair of the castle, but also increase the strength and weapons here year by year.

  Receiving the news that the Datong Army sent troops to Nerchinsk, Bashkov came quickly by boat from Chita with reinforcements. At the same time, a herald was sent to summon all the troops around Lake Baikal.

   "Guardian, there are local Sauron warriors here to vote!"

   "Please hurry up!"

  Before Li Zheng ordered a formal attack, a group of nearby aboriginals suddenly came.

There were more than two hundred people, carrying bows, arrows and hunting knives. When they saw Li Zheng, they kowtowed and knelt down. After reporting their names, they said, "General, as long as it is to kill Raksha ghosts, we can do whatever we want. We are willing to attack the city." Go ahead!"

  Li Zheng hurriedly helped them up: "Warriors have a heart, and the imperial court will definitely not treat you poorly."

   The hearts of the people are available!

  Li Zheng didn't know that he was attacking Nerchinsk here, and Cossacks from all over the place came to rescue him. As soon as the Cossacks left their strongholds, the Buryats of the Baikal region moved. Of course the castle couldn't go on, but there was only Muzhaizi's territory, several of which were destroyed by the Buryats.

  The southeast wind blows gently, and the monsoon is blocked by the remnants of the Greater Khingan Mountains, and it is already very weak when it reaches Nerchinsk.

  A hot air balloon gradually lifted into the sky, and the Cossack gunner in the sub-fort hurriedly reloaded, then adjusted the angle and fired at the hot air balloon. By the time the cannonballs were launched, the hot air balloon had already ascended more than ten feet, and the cannonballs could only pass near the traction rope, and the closest shot to the rope was more than two meters away.

  The breeze carried the hot air balloon and slowly floated over the castle. The Cossack defenders couldn't help but look up.

   "It's over, it's over!"

  Shen Kaizao stood in the rattan basket, waving the flag at the friendly troops on the ground.

   This is because the take-off location is too close to the castle, and the rope is too long, so the hot air balloon actually floated over the city center.

  Received the semaphore, a group of soldiers dragged the rope in the tunnel, pulling the hot air balloon back little by little.

   "Stop, stop!"

  A nearby observer held up a telescope and said.

  Shen Kaizao put down the flag, bent down and picked up Ten Thousand Enemies.

  There are three types of Ten Thousand Enemies today, five catties and ten catties are used for field battles, and twenty catties are specially used for defending the city.

  The one in Shen Kaizao's hand weighed ten catties.

  The wind is not strong, and the hot air balloon is very stable.

  Shen Kaizao looked down with his probe and felt that the position was still not correct, so he raised the flag again to signal.

   After dragging on the ground, it finally aimed at the bastion.

   Shen Kaizao blew on the fire, ignited the fuse, picked up the enemy and threw it down.

   "Boom!"

  The first air strike in human history was born in such a ridiculous way.

  The Cossack below is stretching his neck to watch. Suddenly, they saw a lump of black things, ranging from small to large in sight, and fell on top of their heads in a blink of an eye.

  The early porcelain shell was invincible, but now it has also been changed. The shell is directly poured with pig iron, which is very convenient for dewaxing and molding. At this time, it fell from a high altitude, cracked the pig iron shell, and bounced to the side twice—boom!

  Three Cossacks in the explosion circle, go to God on the spot.

  Six people were injured next to him, one was pierced into the stomach by a pig iron piece, one had his finger cut off by the iron piece, and one had more than a dozen iron sand embedded in his face...

   Those who were injured but survived were rolling on the ground in pain, while the others fled in fright.

  Shen Kaizao picked up the second Ten Thousand Enemies, and was about to ignite the fuse, when he found that there was no one directly below him.

  Hot air balloon bombing, that's the bad thing, you can't move freely.

   "Bang bang bang bang!"

  The Cossacks began to fight back, firing bullets into the sky.

  Shen Kaizao was a little guilty. After a while, he realized that he had nothing to do, so he laughed again.

  But at this moment, a bullet hit the hot air balloon. Although the power was not great, and he barely pierced the hot air balloon through the small hole, Shen Kaizao was still terrified.

   This is rifled and has a longer range.

  Shen Kaizao waved the flag, and the friendly forces on the ground pulled him back.

  Li Zheng didn't wait for the hot air balloon to stop, and asked, "How?"

  Shen Kaizao replied: "A few were blown up, and the others all ran away. When our army attacked the city, the enemy did not dare to flee, so they had to stay where they were and let me bomb."

"it is good!"

   Li Zheng clapped his hands in praise.

   On the bank of the mother castle, the warlord Bashkov, who led the reinforcements arrived, stared blankly at the sky. He knew that the Datong Army had hot air balloons, but he never expected that those balloons could actually throw bombs.

"Your Excellency," Nerchinsk guard Mikhail said, "this season often blows southeast winds, and the hot air balloons of the Khitans can easily float over the sub-fort. Why don't we take the initiative to abandon the sub-fort and withdraw all the defenders?" The mother castle. This will not only avoid the enemy's hot air balloon bombs, but also increase the defensive force of the mother castle..."

   "Shut up, you idiot!"

Bashkov reprimanded: "There are so many enemies coming, I'm afraid it will take a year to fight. Even if all the defenders of Zibao are dead, they must be firmly stuck there to buy time for the next reinforcements! If Zibao is abandoned, Although the enemy's big ships can't get through, the small boats can bypass the river south of Zibao. At that time, the passage for the follow-up reinforcements to enter the city will be blocked!"

   Mikhail asked: "Then how should we fight? Do you want to increase the strength of the sub-fort?"

Bashkov shook his head: "No, the only function of the soldiers in the sub-fort is to delay time. As long as it can be delayed for a month or two, and reinforcements arrive everywhere, the strength of the mother fortress will be thousands, and the Khitans will definitely not be able to attack it. As for Soldiers of Zibao, who died for His Majesty the Tsar, and the Lord will accept them in heaven."

   "Boom boom boom!"

   While the two were talking, the Datong Army suddenly fired.

  This time, instead of bombarding the soldiers on the city, they bombarded the wooden fence outside the sub-fort.

  Bashkov boarded the wall of the mother castle, observed it with a telescope, and muttered: "The Khitans are preparing to attack the city."

  After a day of continuous shelling, the outer barriers of the enemy's sub-fort and the wooden wall on the east side were all smashed down.

  The next day.

  Three hot air balloons lift off.

  The ropes carried by the army are all **** and can only be used for high-altitude bombing by two hot air balloons. There is one hot air balloon left, with a very low launch height, which is specially used for battlefield observation.

  A hot air balloon bombarded the bastion at the northeast corner of Zibao. A hot air balloon bombed the bastion in the southeast of Zibao.

  Two artillery positions, one shooting in parallel to the east wall and the other shooting in parallel to the south wall.

  In this way, the enemy's two bastions in the northeast and southeast, as well as the east and south city walls, were all exposed to the firepower of the Datong Army. Only hit people, don't blow up city walls!

  The attack was launched from the east of the sub-fort. Under the cover of our army's long-range firepower, the two bastions that could cause crossfire could not concentrate on the battle.

  The defenders in Zibao, there are only more than 80 Cossacks, and the remaining one hundred people are all indigenous servants.

  Two Datong Army artillery positions took the lead in attacking.

  After adjusting the angle, one shot after another was fired, completely ignorant of saving ammunition. The defenders dared not stand in the middle of the south wall and east wall of the enemy's castle. They all squatted close to the parapet for fear of being hit by ricochets.

   Immediately afterwards, two hot air balloons began to bomb.

  In the two bastions below the hot air balloon, the indigenous servants escaped first, followed by the Cossacks. They would rather run to the east wall than not necessarily be hit by artillery, and they would definitely be bombed if they stayed at the bastion.

  When the defenders abandoned the bastion, half of the castle was abandoned. It was no different from a traditional fort, and it was impossible to form crossfire without dead ends.

   Moreover, the Cossack forts were all set up on the bastions, and the artillery was completely abolished.

  The officers and men of the Datong Army began to cross the river, and several of them carried a baffle. This kind of baffle is similar to the baffle of the tartars. The inner layer is hardwood, the outer layer is wrought iron, and the outermost layer is cowhide, which can effectively defend against bullets.

   "Push the artillery over here!"

  The Cossack guard gave instructions to the artillery officer.

  A few gunners took the courage to lead the local servants to transfer the artillery, trying to tear down the east wall and bombard the Datong army crossing the river.

  As soon as these guys approached the fort, Shen Kaizao dropped an enemy. Moreover, he still had experience, he held it in his hand for two seconds before throwing it, and it exploded directly over the bastion, and pieces of iron and iron sand flew out like a goddess scattering flowers.

"what!"

   A group of gunners and indigenous servants screamed in pain, and several of them were pierced through their skulls by iron plates.

  The defenders on the east wall crackled and fired into the river, and the bullets were all blocked by the baffle. To be honest, with such a long distance, even if it hits someone, it won't be very powerful.

   Before the soldiers crossing the river landed, a shell suddenly made a contribution.

  In that artillery position, the previous 30 or so shells only hit one enemy. This time it performed exceptionally, the shells hit the city at a small angle, and bounced against the parapet—there were people behind the parapet!

  The shell flew over the head of one Cossack and directly smashed the head of another Cossack. Then it fell onto the city wall and bounced off, breaking the neck of a native soldier, and then smashing the head of another native soldier... Just like this, **** mist burst out all the way, and finally rolled forward rapidly, taking away several legs one after another.

   There were a few lucky ones, the shells bounced over their heads. Although they had nothing to do with them, they were scared stupid on the spot when they looked around.

   It's too bloody, all kinds of headless corpses.

  Those guys who lost their legs cried heart-rendingly, shaking their morale even more.

  Unable to bear the psychological pressure, the native servant army turned around and abandoned the city wall and fled, leaving only dozens of Cossacks defending.

  Seeing that the Datong Army had already landed, the bastion was guarded by hot air balloons. The remaining Cossacks were also unwilling to stick to it. Before the Datong army could kill them, they abandoned the castle and fled to the north, rowing a boat back to the mother castle.

  Bashkov watched the whole battle, his face expressionless at the moment. He thought that Zibao, which he thought he could hold on to for a month or two, fell on the third day of his arrival.

He turned to the adjutant and said: "Send people back to Chita immediately. All the reinforcements are gathered in Chita. Don't come in batches. I can still hold on here. Let them gather before starting from Chita. The upper reaches of the castle will be blocked. The enemy is cut off, let them land in advance, and come to support by land."

  There are three obstacles on the periphery of the mother castle, and it is difficult to set up the artillery positions of the Datong Army. Due to the distance and wind direction, the hot air balloon can only bomb the nearest bastion.

  The next battle is still difficult to carry out.

  (end of this chapter)