The Last Frontier of Fire and Sword

Early the next morning, Prince Alexei walked out of the camp, accompanied by generals and Ivan Shirko.

From the location of the camp, he can see the entire state of Konotup Fort.

Konotop Fort is a low and long strip, like a leba. The layout of the castle is in a four-star shape, with two sharp corners facing oneself and establishing positions. Facing the enemy, the castle has a trench five meters wide and five meters deep. There are towers on the south and east sides. It stands tall above the entire castle, like the spire of the Orthodox Church.

What is particularly eye-catching is the hastily built triangular fort. It is outside the castle and is connected to the castle by a bridge. If it is attacked by the enemy's flanks, the barbican can play a protective role.

"What facilities are there in the city?" Alexei asked Ivan Shirko.

Ivan Shirko recalled and replied: "His Royal Highness, there is a square in the center of the castle. In front of the square there is a bunker, a cistern, and an Orthodox chapel."

Prince Alexei nodded.

He turned his head and said to a messenger on the side: "Go and call Raphael."

Immediately, perhaps because he was afraid that the messenger would not be able to fully understand what he meant, Prince Alexei added: "If Raphael is exploring the enemy's fortifications, then just wait for him to check, and I can wait for him. "

Raphael, who can make Prince Alexei condescend and wait for a long time, is a Frenchman from his name. He is indeed a Frenchman and an engineer of military engineering.

Since the battle of Smolensk three years ago and the subsequent series of siege wars such as the attack on Riga, the Tsarist Russian army exposed the shortcomings that were not good at siege. Alexei used a lot of money to hire a group of experts from Western Europe to guide and Strengthen the Russian army's ability to attack tough problems.

Raphael was one of the people hired by the prince. And so are those who have appeared with Vasily Sheremetev under Fort Konotup.

After waiting for about an hour, Raphael finally came.

The Frenchman has brown hair, his face is white and needless, and his face is meticulously maintained. But except for his head, he was sloppy: his upper body was only wearing a single shirt, and it was covered with yellow earth; the lower body was a pair of bloomers, just like the shirt and leather boots, with dots of yellow earth on it.

If other people come to see the prince in this way, the prince's guards will definitely fight him out. But Prince Alexei was kind to Raphael, especially when he saw him like this, the Prince was even more happy.

"Your Excellency Raphael, did you just come back from the front line?" the prince said gently.

"Yes, Your Royal Highness. I went to explore the little fortress."

"What do you think of that little fortress?"

In the eyes of experts such as Raphael, Chechen's construction of such a triangular fort in front of Konotop Fort is undoubtedly the finishing touch, and it has greatly improved Konottop's defense. However, Cheerchen is a soldier and not an expert in architectural engineering after all. In the eyes of experienced siege engineers, Konotop Fort only solved the problem from scratch, but its flaws are too numerous to list—for example, it The design was unreasonable and the construction was too hasty. The parapet of the triangular fort is too short, and there are no gun holes to protect the soldiers, so the defenders who shoot will definitely become the enemy’s live target; the castle is too small, so only small and medium artillery can be secured inside the barrier; it is a solid fort , So there is only one passage from Konotop Fort to the Triangle Fort, and there is no entrance or exit gate, so soldiers cannot safely leave the castle in order to clean up what the enemy put into it to fill the trench, or launch a counterattack. Worst of all, the layout of the triangular fort is unreasonable, so there are large shooting corners under the city wall. Unless you lean out, the defenders cannot fire on the enemy forces hiding in those areas.

After hearing Raphael’s methodical analysis, Prince Alexei and the Russian generals were very satisfied.

Experts are really different, professional!

"Raphael, if I deploy enough manpower for you, how long do you want to arrange the artillery positions and offensive positions?" the prince asked at last.

Raphael thought for a moment, he packed up his ticket and said: "Seven days!"

From April 26, the army of Tsarist Russia began to work. Raphael put new technologies such as mathematics, applied engineering, and artillery into the attack on Fort Konotup. With the assistance of the lieutenants assigned to him by Prince Alexei, he assigned a large amount of manpower to specific tasks in an orderly manner.

Russian soldiers dig tunnels and zigzag trenches at an alarming speed, pushing their spider-web tunnels forward. Due to the clever choice of the tunnel angle, the defenders were unable to shoot at the engineers digging the tunnel for a long time. The Russian army also transported the excavated soil to the rear, and built a fort on the waste site.

Hundreds of people lined up, carrying dirt bags and wooden boards back and forth, like worker ants.

The tunnel kept approaching the city wall, staring at the defenders. Within a few days, the Russians dug a trench just about 300 steps away from the trench of Konotop Fort, which was already within the range of the 3-pounder and 6-pounder guns in the castle.

Soon, their frontier reached the edge of the trench.

The Russian army built two mud and log mixed platforms to house light artillery and use wooden barriers to protect the artillery.

On April 29th, brightly colored flags were flying on the front positions of the Russian army; light and heavy artillery guns were arranged at positions staggered forward and backward. They also established other positions to bombard the walls of Fort Konotup in other directions.

At this time, Chechen fully realized that the Russian army in front of him was no longer the Russian army that besieged Smolensk three years ago.

It is not only himself who learns about warfare in the war, but the commanders of the Russian army such as Prince Alexei are also making progress.

Cheerchen urgently reinforced fifty chief guards toward the triangle fort, and used sandbags to raise and widen the breast wall at night.

On May 1, Russian artillery began bombarding Fort Konotup.

The 36 cannons in place on this day were divided into two rows. The 3-pounder and the 6-pounder fired grape shells, and the 12-pounder fired iron rounds with huge penetrating power.

The Russian army also has a giant stone cannon. This cannon is made of bronze, weighs 17 tons, is 5.38m long, and has a barrel thickness of 20cm. The cannon can fire stone bullets up to 630mm in diameter. One shot of a cannon requires the use of gunpowder weighing 136kg, which can project a projectile weighing 295kg to a distance of 1.6km. Although this heavy gun cannot be compared with the "Tsar Cannon" in front of the Kremlin, the huge muzzle is like a monster with a mouth wide open, and it is enough to make the defenders at Konotop. I was trembling.

Before the first round of shelling, the three regiments, a total of more than 4,000 new Russian musketsmen, fired a head-and-face volley at the Triangular Fort with muskets. They beat the defenders from behind the breast wall and dared not raise their heads.

Then the cannon began to blast.

The artillery group began to slam the two sharp corners of the triangular fort facing the trench.

In the Konotop Fort behind the triangle fort, Cheechen tried his best to disrupt the enemy's artillery fire with artillery shells in the city.

Konotup Castle originally had four cannons, but Cheerchen and the others brought six more. Excluding the three in the triangle fort, there are a total of seven artillery pieces here. Together they bombarded enemy turrets that could be seen in sight.

The shelling from Fort Konotop has achieved some success: in the third round of the salvo, a cannonball penetrated the wooden barrier as if blessed by God and hit a gunpowder barrel behind it, causing a big explosion. , Destroyed an enemy’s artillery position and two artillery in the position.

A Russian artillery position was destroyed, and the morale of the defenders rose. Due to the cover of the triangular fort, the firepower of the Russian musketeers could not threaten the Konotop Fort, so Chechen assigned an artillery to cooperate with the artillery of the triangular fort to counterattack the new Russian musketeers who fired in the array.

Seeing an artillery position turned to ashes in the flames, and the New Army Musketeers had to retreat under the threat of enemy fire, Prince Alexei's expression did not fluctuate in the slightest. He just asked Raphael: "When can the trench be filled?"

"It's okay at any time, but to reduce casualties, it's best to suppress the Musketeers in the triangle fort." Raphael suggested.

Prince Alexei nodded. Later, he named Ivan Shirko.

"His Excellency, I have always heard that the marksmanship of the Cossack soldiers is unparalleled in the world. The work of covering and filling the trenches is left to you and your Cossack team."

Ivan Shirko knew that Prince Alexei’s words were military orders and could not be violated. Moreover, he also intends to show his strength to those Russian generals who despise her.

So Ivan Hilko drew the pistol from his waist. He raised it and swiped it forward. The two hundred Cossack Musketeers evacuated and rushed towards the trench parallel to the front trench of the triangular fort.

The Cossack brothers who originally belonged to the same faction began to merge. Since the Triangular Fort contained the most elite chief guards of the Cossacks, Ivan Shirko's Cossacks were unfavorable as soon as they entered the trenches. The chief guards were holding Mikhail muskets and staying behind the breast wall. Their marksmanship was amazing. As long as the Cossack musketeers in the opposite trench showed their heads, the trigger on the trigger was pulled down exactly.

In just over an hour, 30 people were killed on Ivan Shirko's side.

This made shooting at the Triangular Fort a terrible chore, and the Russian Cossacks did not see a good sign.

They hid behind the breast wall and did not dare to look up, because against the blue sky in summer, they became a living target for the enemy as soon as they appeared.

"Brothers Cossacks, Cossacks don't beat Cossacks!"

Just as the Russian Cossacks in the trenches were leaning on the parapet and leaning on their guns, not daring to show their heads, a shout came out from the triangle fort.

"We raised the gun by an inch, and you also raised the gun by an inch, so everyone can deal with each other." The voice continued to shout.

Afterwards, the two sides actually achieved a tacit understanding. In the exchange of fire for the next hour, neither side was injured or killed.

Slowly, the shooting between the two sides stopped. No one has given an order, but the Cossacks just stopped fighting.

The Russian Cossacks followed the winding trenches to the front of the barrier of the Triangular Fort; the Cossack defenders of the Triangular Fort first stuck their heads, and then someone boldly dropped the rope and walked towards them.

At first, both sides were very cautious, but in this kind of front meeting, there was no unfriendly performance between each other. Especially the Cossacks of Bratslav, because of the relationship between Baohong and Ivan Shirko, the two sides often cooperate and fight, and they have a lot of affection for each other.

And Ivan Shirko’s Cossacks always had a higher evaluation of Bratzláv’s Cossacks than other Cossacks.

They looked down on the Cossacks of Konotop, but now they see them fighting so bravely and tenaciously, and they have a high regard. Talking to them is as equal as Bratzlaff.

The two sides were laughing, and both couldn't help but utter admiration. So on the battlefield, they chatted with each other, saying that the two parties were originally a family and shouldn't shed so much Cossack blood; in the end they even toasted cigarettes and toasted each other.

Prince Alexei, Ivan Shirko and others who returned to the tent to take a rest did not know that the front-line Cossacks were working. Based on Raphael's estimation, they believed that one-third of the casualties in the triangular fort should be at this time, and the trenches could be filled.

But when the gunfire stopped, Prince Alexei and Ivan Shirko walked out of the tent, and the scene on the battlefield of UU Reading www.uukanshu.com stunned everyone.

At this moment, Ivan Shirko's face looked better than the dead, and he couldn't see it.

Vasily Sheremedev, who was standing next to Prince Alexei, enduring his pain, said gloomily: "Team Shirko, your Cossacks are truly brotherly!"

Ivan Shirko was trying to refute, but the whip raised by Prince Alexei reached Vasily Sheremetev’s mouth earlier.

"Team Shirko leader," Prince Alexei said to Ivan Shirko: "Take your people down, remember! Let's not take this as an example."

After many thanks to the prince, Ivan Shirko rushed to the front to withdraw the Cossacks. But even though his subordinates made himself ashamed in front of the Russians, Ivan Hilko did not dare to deal with anyone, because his team leader was also afraid of the Cossack's rebellion.

After the Cossacks withdrew, Prince Alexei sent a team of serfs to fill in the trenches. As you can imagine, most of the "gray animals" who were sent were killed or injured, but the trenches were not buried much.

The first day of battle ended with the fall of night. Although Cheerchen and the others have won the victory of defending Konotup Fort, the situation is not optimistic.

Fedot, who returned from the Triangle Fort, bluntly stated his judgment on the situation to Chechen and other officers: The Triangle Fort was too weak and too small, and many design problems were exposed during the battle. And if you want to hold the triangle fort, you must always add reinforcements and repair fortifications. Because on this day alone, more than forty people were injured or killed in the Triangle Fort. This is also the result of the "tacit understanding" between the Cossacks on both sides.

After listening to Fedot's description, Cheechen summed it up vividly: "It's like a patient suffering from tuberculosis, who needs continuous medication and nutrition to maintain his life."