On the 19th of March, 1878, Russia, who had set up camp in the Danube valley, issued an order to the Russian and Bulgarian armies besieging the Pleven fortress to launch another attack. They must take Pleven. Pleven was besieged for ten months and did not fall. Pleven was written in the history of war in Europe. Ten months was basically the limit of the besieged. In these ten months, Russia's ruble, stocks, and war bonds in the European financial market fell to the limit. The Osman Empire had fewer troops than Russia, and Pleven relied on the storage in the city to survive. The pressure of war was much less than that of Russia. Russia had to rely on the bravery of the Russian army to stop the loss of Russia's financial credit.
Coincidentally, on the 20th of March, China's envoy arrived at the Tsar's palace and presented China's proposal to determine the borders of Central Asia as soon as possible to Tsar Alexander II of Russia.
"Our country believes that now is the best time to solve the Central Asian problem peacefully." China's envoy said straightforwardly.
All the Russians who heard this were cursing in their hearts. For China, this was indeed the best time. The last thing Russia wanted was for the Chinese team to come in and meddle in their affairs. Russia had already opened up the Danube and Caucasus fronts. If they opened up a Central Asian front, Russia's days would be over.
Russia did not officially annex Central Asia. Many areas were just protectorates of Russia. China and Russia had common interests in dividing Central Asia. The two sides also had many negotiations. Russia did not want Lake Barkesh. Nor did the Russians want the mountainous area northeast of Lake Balcke, where there were many rivers. China asked for a border with Iran. Russia pinched their noses and accepted it. The two sides could not reach an agreement because both China and Russia wanted to monopolize the Aral Sea. Russia's palace thought that China wanted to use force this time.
"We give up our claim to the Aral Sea." China's envoy said.
"Oh?" All the ministers in Russia's palace were stunned. Given the current power balance between China and Russia, China was in a prime opportunity. At this time, China actually began to retreat, which undoubtedly helped China and Russia reach a territorial division.
From Vézé's 21st century perspective, China's plan was to divide the entire Central Asian region, where the five Central Asian countries were located, into three parts with a diagonal line from the top right to the bottom left. China would take the eastern part. The western two portions, including the Aral Sea, were given to Russia. China obtained the land bordering Iran, while Russia blocked China from entering the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea.
The people of Russia were still very unhappy. The rich parts of Central Asia had basically been taken away by China. China had also taken a large piece of Novosibirsk. It couldn't be helped. Back then, the Russians took advantage of the war between Manchu Qing and the British to force Manchu Qing to sign a treaty to cede territory. Therefore, the Russians knew how to take advantage of the situation. The disadvantaged party actually didn't have the strength to fight back.
"Does the treaty define the boundary between China and Russia?" The foreign minister of Russia specifically emphasized the name of the treaty.
"Yes." The envoy of China replied.
The foreign minister of Russia was still a little worried. He asked, "If other countries ask China, the land west of this border belongs to …"
"China will clearly tell them that we, China, consider it to be Russia's territory." The envoy of China replied clearly.
Before the foreign minister of Russia could breathe a sigh of relief, the envoy of China continued, "But …"
This "but" made the foreign minister of Russia nervous again.
"But this is only what we, China, have confirmed in the treaty. If there is a military conflict between Russia and other countries in this area, our country will not send troops to ensure that the land outside the border belongs to Russia. Please clarify this point. "The envoy of China seriously explained China's position.
Nonsense! You want to send troops, but we don't want to! The foreign minister of Russia cursed in his heart. On the surface, the foreign minister of Russia was still polite. In a sense, the division of Central Asia was also a victory. The British were very dissatisfied with Russia's attempt to monopolize Central Asia. China and Russia formally divided Central Asia in the form of a legal document, and Russia could legitimately incorporate a large area of Central Asia into the territory of Russia. In the current situation, the land occupied by China was next to India and Afghanistan. Let the British vent their dissatisfaction on China.
In order to guard against China's military action, Russia suspended its attack on Plevin. On April 1st, the war began again. The city of Plevin once again welcomed the fierce attack of the Russian army.
Fierce artillery and horizontal attacks, the tactics of the Russian army had not improved at all in the past six months. Single rifle fire began at a distance of two kilometers, and dense single rifle fire began at a distance of 500 meters. The Russian army rushed to 200 meters away from the Plevin defense line, and the machine guns and repeating rifles of the Osman army began to fire fiercely.
The Russian army was knocked down to the ground like rice, but this time the Russian army also had a new idea. Following the first wave of horizontal attacks were more than a hundred Gatling guns. These machine guns formed a circular position at a distance of about two hundred meters and began to fire fiercely at the fortress of the Osman army.
Looking at the dense enemy, Li Weiren's pupils couldn't help but shrink. The storm of bullets not only hit the Russians, but the Osman army was also suffering a cruel test. When machine guns and rifles were fired at the firing holes, the fortress was not necessarily safe. The Ottomans firing desperately from their positions above the redoubt had less cover and suffered more casualties.
Because of his position, Li Weiren couldn't see the Russian bullets hitting the outer wall of the defensive position. It was like a rainstorm hitting the rock wall and splashing water. The firepower on the defensive position was suppressed under such a fierce attack. Tens of thousands of Tsar's gray animals rushed forward regardless of life and death. Under the cover of machine guns, they were getting closer and closer to the outer wall of the defensive position. The situation became precarious in the blink of an eye.
"Order the assault unit to open fire!" Li Weiren didn't expect Osman Pasha to be standing beside him. Nuri Pasha, as the commander of the defense, shouted loudly.
After half a year of training, the Osman army had made some progress in the defense of the fortress. Before Li Weiren gave the order, the commanders of the defensive forces already felt that something was wrong. Almost at the same time the order was given, the assault unit's position was filled with smoke.
China's canned food was called canned food, but in fact, it was completely different from the glass canned food in China. Air-dried beef and mutton carefully marinated with spices and salt were placed in wooden barrels with two iron hoops. One barrel weighed about fifty to sixty kilograms. The wood was good and the iron hoops were solid. The sturdy wooden barrels were filled with soil and sand, making them excellent materials for building fortifications. Now these wooden barrels were wrapped with a large number of hemp ropes. The inside was filled with gunpowder and positioned at the right angle. The barrels were turned into mortar cannons by stuffing explosives into their mouths.
With muffled bangs, the ignited explosives flew out of the defensive position and fell in the middle of the Russian and Bulgarian soldiers. The angle and range of the artillery was limited, and the attack on the edge of the defensive position was completely unreliable. Just like the Russians did not dare to use artillery to bombard the city of Pleven when they were charging. This simple mortar had a short range and a large ejection curve. Every explosion could knock over a circle of people around it. The explosives were also stuffed with a large number of fragments of Russia's artillery shells. During the winter, the soldiers were not idle. It was a lot of work to make metal fragments.
The Russian and Bulgarian soldiers who were directly killed by the explosion were considered to have less physical pain. In this era, the death rate of those sharp pieces of iron pierced the body was very high. Only the thighs, chest, and abdomen injuries were considered good. Some people's faces were pierced with many pieces of iron. The sharp screams were earth-shattering, and even the sound of gunfire and shouting could not completely drown out.
Osman?? Nuri Pasha was also an old soldier, but it was the first time he saw such a fierce battle. It was the first time he saw a killing of such a scale. The Russian and Bulgarian troops invested nearly 50,000 people in this wave of attack. In half an hour of fighting, Osman?? Nuri Pasha estimated that the Russian and Bulgarian troops lost 20,000 people.
The Russian army was also determined to besiege the city of Pleven. It had been a year since the outbreak of the war, and the hundreds of thousands of Russian troops on the Danube River were still stationed at the city of Pleven. This was not only a problem with the quick strategy, but also a setback for the overall strategy of the Russian army. If the war continued to drag on like this, Russia might be overwhelmed by their own logistics.
Seeing that they were less than 200 meters away from the Plevin Fortress, the Russian army's gunfire had suppressed the Plevin Fortress to a certain extent. The Russian commander thought that as long as they rushed forward, they would be able to touch the outer wall of the fortress. For the attack tactics of the Pleven fortress, the Russian army had special exercises, such as climbing the wall and blocking the shooting holes with things. There were quite a lot of methods. As long as they could touch the wall of the fortress, these methods could be used.
Before the war, the Russian officers at all levels accepted the Chief of the General Staff Dmitry?? Alexyevich?? Milyukin's strict order. "Capture the Pleven fortress at any cost!"
Bulgaria had been occupied by the Osman Empire for hundreds of years and had been bullied. At this time, the opportunity to completely restore the country was in front of them, and their fighting spirit was no less than that of the Russian army.
The intense gunfire, the thick smoke, and the smell of blood stimulated the officers to the point of almost going crazy. After the first three attacks and defense battles, the coalition officers were well aware of the terrible consequences of giving up halfway. That was, all the previous efforts would be wasted, and all the sacrifices would become meaningless. From the perspective of the officers at the back, the troops were not only close to the outer wall of the Pleven fortress, but they had already touched the outer wall of the Pleven fortress. The only thing they needed to do now was to urge the troops to keep moving forward! Forward!
At the same time, the catapults in the Plevin Fortress continued to throw explosives into the ranks of the Russian and Bulgarian militias outside the city. Each bag of explosives was filled with five kilograms of black powder. Twenty thousand bags of explosives were only equivalent to a hundred tons of black powder. When making this kind of weapon, the difficulty was that there were not enough iron pieces, not not enough explosives. Only one-third of the explosive fragments filled with 20,000 bags of explosives were iron pieces, and two-thirds of the crushed stones.
In less than two hours, more than 12,000 bags of explosives were directly launched from the fortress, and one or two were directly dropped from the top position.
The fourth attack and defense battle of the Pleven fortress, with 100,000 troops invested, ended in only half a day, and the Russian army suffered more than 45000 casualties. In the first few days, the unit of "hundred" lost its statistical significance.
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