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The Tsaritsyn Fortress was built between the Volga River and the Tsaritsyn River, with vast rivers on three sides and only a fan-shaped piece of land in the northwest from which an attack could be launched against the fortress.
This fortress was a bridgehead to defend against the Ottoman army. It was built very solidly, especially the northwest wall, which has a base 12 meters wide and nearly 20 meters high. It was mainly made of huge stones. There were six artillery positions on the northwest wall alone.
Tsarist Russia stationed tens of thousands of troops here all year round, and also learned from the Hungarians and built several small castles on the periphery to form a star-shaped fortress to support each other.
The Ottoman Empire has been trying to annex Tsarist Russia for many years and has sent large armies to attack the Tsaritsyn Fortress six times, but each attempt ended in failure.
The Tsaritsyn Fortress was therefore called the Fortress that Will Never Fall by the Russians.
If Li Ding's plan to lure the enemy out of their hole had not been successful and Ivanov's 10,000 troops had not held the fortress, it would have been extremely difficult for Li Ding's tens of thousands of troops to capture this sturdy fortress.
But now, there are only one thousand Russian soldiers left in Chengzhong, and Li Ding's total 40,000 troops are rushing to the outside of the fortress, with people shouting and horses neighing, like a wave with no end in sight.
Li Ding ordered the heads of nearly 7,000 Slavs to be piled up outside the fortress. The heads of Commander-in-Chief Ivanov and senior generals such as Sergeikov were lifted high on bamboo poles and lined up outside the fortress.
Seven thousand heads piled up into a small hill, a bloody and hideous sight. The remaining one thousand Russian soldiers in the city looked depressed and felt chilled in their hearts when they saw it.
Li Ding sent some Russian prisoners to the city to persuade them to surrender, but the 1,000 Russian soldiers in the city thought they had a fortress to defend and refused to surrender.
Li Ding was furious and ordered an attack on the city. Once the city was breached, no one would be left alive!
Three thousand Kazakh vassal soldiers carried long ladders and rushed up with shouts. The six cannons on the top of the city roared first. The Russian army loaded with shotgun shells, and a terrifying barrage of bullets sprayed down, causing the Kazakhs to fall down in groups. In less than an incense stick of time, more than 300 people were killed or injured.
Li Ding was a few miles away, looking through a telescope, and his brows couldn't help but frown.
The Kazakhs had not even touched the city wall, but they had already suffered so many casualties. If we continue to attack with such force, even if all our 40,000 men are occupied, we will probably not be able to break through this solid fortress!
When the horn sounded, the Kazakh army attacking the city immediately retreated like a tide, leaving only a mess of corpses under the city.
The Russian troops defending the city won the first battle and their morale was greatly restored.
However, Russian General Basarev knew that the Qin army's attack this time was just a tentative attack in order to find out the weaknesses of the Charitsyn fortress.
He did not dare to delay and ordered to strengthen the city defense and bring in large quantities of rocks and logs to meet the more fierce attack of the Qin army.
Li Ding divided his troops to besiege the outer Xingcheng while personally approaching and observing the Tsaritsyn Fortress.
This fortress is very large, surrounded by rivers on three sides. Under the high city walls, less than ten feet away are the muddy river beaches and surging river currents.
If there were warships, they could bombard the city walls from the river, but that was just an if, as Li Ding couldn't produce any warships.
Staff officer Wu Ying suggested: "General, the middle and lower reaches of the Volga River have developed shipping, so it is not difficult for us to find a batch of ships. There are few enemies in the city now, which is their most fatal weakness;
If they only guarded the northwest wall, they could still hold it with a thousand men, but once they were dispersed to the four walls, with only two hundred men on each wall, their strength would become very thin.
So I suggest that you immediately gather up the boats and a large amount of straw, spread the straw bundles on the river beach, and after nightfall, we will launch a fierce attack from all sides, and the enemy will not be able to hold out for long. "
Guerrilla General Li Wei also said: "I agree with the opinion of Wu, General, I have carefully observed that there are fewer artillery on the river side, with only two guns on each wall.
After entering the depth, we can concentrate rockets, get close, and quickly kill the enemy's artillery. Then launch the main attack from the river.
Because the river is not conducive to the deployment of troops, the enemy must think that our main attack direction is still on the northwest land, and the troops allocated to other directions must be relatively small. At this time, we will launch a fierce attack from the three sides of the river at the same time, which will catch the enemy off guard. "
Li Ding said: "The wall of this fortress is nearly 20 feet high. It is difficult to climb up with bare hands. Even if we can successfully destroy the enemy's artillery, it will still be difficult to attack it."
This is true. Even if the enemy has no artillery and even if they have few people, the city wall is nearly 20 meters high. When you have climbed most of the way with all your strength, they just give you a slight push on the ladder and you will fall down with it.
After some thought, Li Ding thought of a herringbone ladder and had it built urgently for siege.
On this day, the Qin army did not attack the city again, but was busy and urgent. It was not until the middle of the night that everything was ready. After letting the soldiers have a good meal, Li Ding immediately ordered to attack the city overnight.
First, the Kazakhs launched a fierce attack from land, dividing their 10,000-strong army into three groups and taking turns to attack the city.
After attracting the enemy's attention on the northwest land, the three sides facing the river first approached quietly in the dark with small boats, concentrating a dozen rockets to deal with a cannon;
As dazzling flames streaked out and the artillery towers were bombarded continuously, balls of fire exploded on the top of the city, deafening. Soon the artillery towers were blown to pieces, and after confirming that the enemy's artillery had been destroyed.
The Qin army, which had been quietly waiting on the river, immediately launched a general attack!
The Volga River flows upstream for 6,000 miles from its estuary, with a drop of only 190 meters. There is almost no drop in the middle and lower reaches, and the water flows very slowly and calmly.
The Qin army connected the collected small boats and the hastily made bamboo rafts, rowed directly to the river beach, quickly spread the prepared hay on the river beach, and then swarmed on.
First, a bunch of tall stepladders were quickly put up. On the top of the ladder was a small wooden basket that could accommodate one person to hide from arrows from the wall.
This kind of ladder is very light. Although it is nearly 20 meters high, ten or eight strong men can easily carry it to the shore. Once it is separated to the left and right, and then pulled with ropes from front to back, it can be fixed on the river beach.
The small wooden basket was about ten meters away from the city wall. The enemies on the top of the city were not prepared and could not find such a long wooden stick to push it.
The soldiers hiding in the wooden baskets quickly threw thunder bombs onto the top of the city wall. It was only ten meters away, and they could easily throw the thunder bombs over by sitting and swinging their arms.
The Russian general Basarev had never expected that the Qin army would attack from the river at night. There were less than a hundred Russian soldiers on the city walls facing the river. The thunder bombs thrown one after another caused continuous explosions on the city walls, making the Russian army dizzy and causing heavy casualties.
At this time, teams of Qin soldiers desperately climbed up to the top of the city wall along the ladders. Many of them climbed to the top of the city wall without encountering the rocks and logs they had imagined.
Basarev, who was on the northwest city wall, saw that the Qin army was attacking from all sides of the river. At first, he didn't care much. He thought that the Qin army was just bluffing and wanted to disperse his troops.
When soldiers came crawling back to report that several walls were about to collapse, Basarev was horrified. How could this be possible
He didn't have time to think about it and quickly sent troops to rescue them.
At this time, under a series of thunder bombs, the Russian army on the east side of the city wall facing the Volga River had suffered almost all casualties. Arsalan personally led his troops to attack the top of the city wall, and fought with the hastily arrived Tsarist Russian reinforcements, desperately defending a part of the city wall.
As the Qin army slowly climbed up the ladders to the top of the city, they soon gained an absolute advantage in terms of manpower. They even carried rockets up. Two rockets were fired and immediately the Russian army, which was still resisting stubbornly, was defeated.
The Qin army opened the east gate, and thousands of soldiers holding torches swarmed in, and their shouts of victory resounded like the sky.
Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Russian General Basarev ran into the city and changed into ordinary people's clothes, hoping to disguise himself as an ordinary citizen and escape the disaster.
However, the Mongols and Kazakhs who entered the city carried out Li Ding's order thoroughly, leaving no one alive except young and beautiful women.
Basarev could put on civilian clothes but could not become a woman. Even if he put on women's clothes, no one would like him at his age, so he still became a "chicken dog".
The Tsaritsyn Fortress, which had resisted the attacks of the Ottoman army many times and was called the unbreakable fortress by the Slavs, could not hold out for less than a day in the face of Li Ding's 40,000-strong army.
As soon as the Tsaritsyn Fortress fell, the surrounding satellite cities surrendered one after another after receiving the guarantee of spare their lives. The southern gate of Tsarist Russia was completely opened to Li Ding's army.
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ps: I would like to thank n880103, Ye&Yu&Feng, Zhongleami, Changdu, Leng№1, Linkongwanli, and Guaguawawa for casting their precious monthly tickets. Thank you!
The second one is even better and the code is out, upload it quickly, brothers and sisters, it’s the end of the month, and my anus has been stabbed again, urgently begging for monthly votes!
Urgently seeking monthly tickets!
Urgently seeking monthly tickets!
.(To be continued..)
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