The Last Frontier of Fire and Sword

On June 30, 1658, Vigowski led 40,000 Cossacks to the battlefield. They joined up with the Tatar reinforcements, the defenders of Fort Konotop, and mercenaries. The strength of the troops reached more than 50,000, and the strength had surpassed the Tsarist Russian army under Konotup.

Prior to this, a Russian general had proposed to Prince Alexei to withdraw troops before the main Cossacks, but this proposal was rejected by Prince Alexei. Not only Prince Alexei, but also Prince Simon Pozharski of the Supervising Army also said uncharacteristically that he should stay in Konotop and fight to the death with the Cossack army from afar after replenishing his energy.

The main reason for supporting the two princes to fight again is the superiority of the cavalry of Tsarist Russia.

In the Konotop siege, the Russian cavalry completely lost their usefulness. Cavalry forces can only be thrown into the battlefield as dismounted infantry, making it difficult for their advantages to be brought into play. But once a decisive battle on the prairie, the situation is completely different. The vast grassland will be an excellent battlefield for the Russian cavalry to gallop, and the weak cavalry of the Cossack emirate cannot be the opponent of the Russian cavalry at all.

Of course, their warchief Vigowski also realized this, so he invited the army of the Crimean Khanate. However, the two princes also agreed that the Tatars who are devoted to money will not be dead for the Cossacks. Once the situation on the battlefield is not good for the Cossacks, the Khan will inevitably retreat in order to preserve their strength-just like they were in other countries. As it did in the Battle of Lesteko.

Therefore, the Russian army moved ten miles outside Konotop and built fortifications, waiting for the decisive battle to come.

During this period, Prince Alexei tried every means to boost the morale of the army. He asked the priests who accompanied the army to crown the expedition in the name of jihad and the rescue of the Slav brothers, inspiring morale by religion; he told the nobles He and the officer promised that after conquering Ukraine, the fertile fields there will be their manor and pasture. His Majesty will exempt the five-year land tax to make up for the losses caused by the long-term battle; and for soldiers composed of citizens, the prince will also Promise them that they will be given monetary compensation after the war; for the serfs, the prince even offered the reward of freedom for killing one person.

Compared with the Russian army, Vygowski’s side is also the same teams that the Cossack emirate can conquer and have been tempered by the fire: Colonel Anton Zhdanovic, Colonel Pavlo Gomon, Colonel Ivan Fedorenko, Colonel Peter Doroshenko, Colonel Lukyan Merzha, Colonel Vasily Zolotarenko, Colonel Maxim Nesterenko, Colonel Prokop Sumeko , Colonel Fyodor Loboda, Colonel Timofi Nosaki, Colonel Matvi Gladki, Colonel Martin Pushkarenko, Colonel Philon Yalari, Laughlin Sinoe Commander North, Commander Lesh Gritsenko... These are people who have grown up in the smoke of war and in the shadow of swords and swords, regardless of their temperaments. They have experienced countless marches, expeditions, sieges and battles. Many of them participated in the fierce battle of Zbaraj’s defense war, and participated in the unprecedented battle of hundreds of thousands of troops in the Berestečko Wilderness; many of them fought with Russians and Tatars. , Poles have been fighting for a long time and have extremely rich combat experience.

Although Vygowski himself was not successful in combat, but he was brilliant. And his morale boosting method is also very simple, that is, to tell all the Cossack fighters exactly what Prince Alexei said to boost the morale of the Russian army.

Since the establishment of the Cossack Emirate, most of the fields and pastures in Ukraine have been under the names of the Cossack team leaders, company commanders and leaders. Prince Alexei’s remarks undoubtedly turned himself into the blood feud of all Cossacks. Even if some Cossack team leaders and company commanders had both ends, half-hearted, and secretly confided in Ivan Shirko, they also yelled at this time, expressing their desire to be inconsistent with the Russians.

On July 2, 1658, after a day's rest, the decisive battle between the Russian army and the Cossack-Polish-Tatar coalition began with a duel.

Crowds of Russians emerged from behind the fortifications, and one after another outstanding knights stepped forward. The Tatar and Cossack knights who were eager to fight also quickly greeted them in groups.

After the battle, both sides suffered casualties. However, in infantry, the casualties of the coalition forces were less than those of the Russians. They were only in the cavalry battle. Since no one of the wing cavalry led by Natalie participated in the battle, the Tatar and Cossack knights suffered more casualties.

However, no matter whether the Russian side or the coalition side, there are very few celebrities who fell to the ground at the beginning of the war.

Such group duels or individual duels can most arouse the increasing enthusiasm for fighting in the spectator.

Finally, after the pre-dinner dessert was tasted, the real meal was served.

The Russian army, under the command of Prince Alexei, formed the traditional field formation of the Russian army-infantry in the middle and cavalry on the two wings. The prince himself lived alone under the command of the Chinese army, and he handed the right wing to General Boris Lepnin Obolevsky, while the left wing was commanded by Prince Simon Pozharsky.

In contrast, Wigowski adopted the tactics recommended by Chechen, which was popular in Western Europe and Northern Europe at the time, and was called "Swedish Fashion". The gunman is placed in the center.

The reason for adopting this tactic is that Cheorchen also considers that the Cossack’s military organization is based on infantry and has a large number of teams. This layout can maximize the depth of the battle line and give play to the subjective initiative and initiative of each team. The power of firearms. But this also resulted in the width of the Cossack army's array, which was less than half the width of the Russian army's left, center and right armies.

Like Prince Alexei, Vygowski himself sits in the Chinese army. Except for the Bratslav team, all the Cossack teams obey his orders. The Cavalry and The Tatar cavalry led by Muhammad Gley moved alternately on the left and right wings, ready to attack at any time.

The first shot of the decisive battle was fired by the Cossack Musketeers of Peter Doroshenko's team. They violently opened their mouths toward the Russian infantry array, trying to kill the enemy with the maximum firepower.

At the forefront of the Russian army's front are the pikemen and shooters composed of serfs. They were originally used by Prince Alexei as a shield to protect the elite new Russian infantry from advancing. Although they were struck by the firepower of the Cossacks, they still moved forward slowly for the sake of the freedom of that head.

While the Cossack musketeers were charging their muskets, the Russian cavalry led by General Boris Repnin Obolevsky rushed from the right flank to the three Cossack teams on the right.

But before it came close, the Tatar cavalry who was maneuvering on the right flank greeted him and blocked the flanking attack of General Boris Lepnin Obolevsky.

The cavalry of General Boris was mainly light cavalry and pistol cavalry. They were inextricably killed with the Tatar cavalry, who were also light cavalry, and the battle situation fell into anxiety for a while.

In the central battlefield, the infantry of the two armies finally met hand-to-hand.

The troops on both sides are like two human walls, pushing against each other, squeezing each other, fighting each other, forming a mess, like two brown bears wrestling with each other, killing blood into a river, and corpses piled up like a mountain. All kinds of weapons here and there are used to kill: there are war swords, short spears, butts, hawks, iron rods, and spears; there are also throwing stones and smashing helmets at each other. Sometimes the human body is close to the human body and crowded so terribly that people can only fight with each other with their fists and teeth.

Prince Simon Pozharsky tried twice to use the cavalry to charge, the offensive of the Cossack infantry, but Prince Alexei refused.

The cavalry unit of Prince Simon Pozharsky is the real main force and the core combat power of the Russian army. Prince Alexei will never use it lightly until the most critical time.

In the melee, Prince Alexei ordered several times that the Russian artillery fired at the Tatar cavalry, especially the position of Muhammad Glyy Khan. These artillery also achieved some results, which made many Tatars. The cavalry was killed, and even one shell fell on the head of a Khanate Mirza who was accompanying the Khan, smashing it into fleshy flesh, but this time, although Muhammad Glyy was also cracked and ran away. , But he cleverly left a stand-in and the six-tailed banner representing the authority of the Khan on the ground, making the khan’s cavalry mistakenly believe that the Khan was with them, so that the Tatar cavalry did not collapse due to the shelling.

From 10 am to 2 pm, the two sides fought fiercely for more than four hours. Finally, the Cossacks, who were good at infantry, gained an advantage on the central front, and the Russian battlefield was dented.

At this time, in addition to the three new regiments of the Chinese Army, Prince Alexei could only save the cavalry unit of Prince Simon Pozharski.

Seeing this, Prince Alexei knew that he could not hesitate. So he ordered the standard bearer to wave the battle flag and ordered Prince Simon Pozharski to assault the Cossacks.

The Russian heavy cavalry with a thousand Boyar cavalry as the core finally waited for the order to fight. Under the command of Prince Simon Pozharsky, they rushed towards the Cossack infantry phalanx.

Facing the charge of the Russian cavalry, the Cossacks were extremely brave. One after another, they plunged into the charge against the Russian cavalry, ignoring that they fell to the ground like crops destroyed by a storm. The Cossacks breathed the breath of death, their horses' **** swept over their heads, their queues were bumped up and down, they were knocked down... But even if they were lying on their backs, the survivors were still Stabbed the horse belly of the Russian cavalry with a dagger; thousands of war knives slashed at them endlessly; the blades rose and fell like lightning, slashing to the head, the neck, the shoulder blades, and the hands; Their short spears are still stabbing and stabbing constantly. They specialize in stabbing the feet and knees of riders. They sting people like poisonous insects, and they do not know life or death like moths into the fire.

Cheorchen's pre-war checkerboard pattern finally worked. Although Prince Simon Pozharsky’s heavy cavalry smashed the phalanx of five teams, defeated three, and wiped out one phalanx, more team phalanxes held their ground like nails, and the Russian heavy cavalry gradually lost. Because of their speed and mobility, they were more and more assassinated by spears and shot by muskets, and soon they had nothing to do.

It was also at this time that the space created by Prince Simon Pozharski's assault on the left wing of the Russian army was spotted, and the cavalry led by Chechen launched a charge towards the Chinese army where Prince Alexei was.

"With God's help, rush to them immediately!" Chechen ordered.

"Charge!" Yelishei shouted.

"Go ahead!" Natalie called.

After them, the company captains repeated their passwords.

In an instant, Rulin’s spear leaned towards the horse’s head with a terrifying sound. Two wing cavalry companies and ten Zaporozhye Cossack cavalry companies were unstoppable. These companies were accustomed to destroying encounters along the way. All the obstacles that are reached are like dark clouds covering the sky and the sun.

The three guards, Prince Alexei and the new army as the general reserve squadron, hurriedly formed a thick and dense formation. Thousands of muskets roared at the same time, neatly as if they were shooting by one person. After the gunfire, for a while, the battlefield seemed to be empty and quiet and unusually quiet.

Some of the soldiers of the New Russian Army squinted their eyes to peer at the terrible attack like a storm, some were shaking with spears, and everyone's hearts were plopping like a hammer. They clenched their teeth, their chests were violently up and down, and they gasped heavily.

Prince Alexei stood upright on the stirrups. He understands very well that the winner of the battlefield lies in this one move.

As long as the volley of the New Army Musketeers blocked the winged cavalry from charging for the spearhead cavalry, then the victory of the fill-in will be tilted towards one's own side. When the new army spearmen on the central front swarmed up, the cavalry on the two wings repelled the Tatar cavalry and surrounded the main Cossacks, the victory would be on their own side; on the contrary, if the new army musketeers failed to repel the enemy The cavalry of the army charged and was penetrated by the phalanx, cutting the army into two sections that could not be taken care of, then he would only have to swallow the bitter fruit of failure.

The battlefield was shrouded in black smoke, even if Prince Alexei stared at him no matter how much he stared, his eyes still could not penetrate the black smoke to see everything in the dense smoke.

At this moment, a gust of wind blew, and the smoke was blown away miraculously.

Prince Alexei slumped on the horse. He saw the winged cavalry overwhelmingly attacking his new army phalanx.

In a daze, he could even hear the snort of the rolling horses resounding like thunder.

Then, destruction fell from the sky, destruction fell from the sky, death fell from the sky!

They don’t seem to come from a person’s chest, they are so terrible, they sound chilling and creepy! The large wall of living people in front of Prince Alexei was shaking, twisting, and bursting; the cracking sound of the spear handle was broken, and for a while, all other noises were submerged, and then thousands of hammers rang with all their strength. The sound of hammering an anvil sounded the sound of thousands of flail beating grain on the threshing floor.

The single person uttered horrible screams, and the group groaned miserably.

The attacker and the attacked were mixed with each other, killed in one place, and rolled in an incredible vortex of fierce battle; followed by a merciless slaughter, steaming blood from the vortex, the air was filled with the smell of blood.

The first, second, and third columns of the new Russian army’s phalanx in the fifth column were crushed and fell to the ground. Chop the sword.

Prince Alexei was also shocked and almost fell off his horse. It was the one hundred officers who guarded him desperately to rescue him from the danger.

The Chinese army was broken, and the Russian army began to shake. General Boris Lepnin Obolevsky returned desperately despite the continued attacks on his cavalry by the flank Cossacks' musket team and the entanglement of the Tatar cavalry. He stopped the attempt to pursue Prince Alexei. Chen, and dragged him tightly.

Prince Simon Pozharsky was in charge of the queen. After covering the evacuation of the vast majority of the Russian army, he himself and many Russian nobles were captured. The prince could have survived because he was captured by the Tatars, for the Tatars, he was a living golden bag. But Prince Simon Pozharsky spit on Khan’s face after seeing Muhammad Glyy, and Mohammed Glyy, who was furious, ordered him to be beheaded.

In the defeat of Prince Alexei this time, not only a large amount of luggage, flags and some artillery were captured by the coalition forces, but also nearly 15,000 Russian troops were killed.

The Cossacks won an unprecedented victory in the battle to defend Ukraine. The last frontier of fire and sword