Li Xiao stepped off the airship and leaned a little when his feet hit the ground.

The sky was overcast, and the snow particles blown by the strong wind hit my face painfully.

The strange thing is that when these snow particles fall on the ground, they turn into water, or a mixture of ice and water.

The ground was saturated with water and was soft as if it were spring. Not far away was the fast-flowing Dnieper River.

Even if I kill Li Xiao, I won’t believe it. This is actually Russia in November.

The water contained ice, and the ice contained water. The muddy ground covered the shiny leather shoes in an instant.

Li Xiao shook his head helplessly, and a thunder-like sound rumbled from the distance.

Rich military experience told him that this was the sound of exploding artillery shells. At least it was an artillery piece of 105 mm or more!

The battalion artillery of the Ming Dynasty is an artillery piece of this caliber. This thing can carry out most of the battalion-level tactical tasks.

Smolensk, a fortress built purely for military purposes.

The Dnieper River turns a big bend here, and Smolensk is stuck in the middle of this bend.

This also determined that only by capturing Smolensk could we successfully cross the Dnieper River.

Only after crossing the Dnieper River can we attack Moscow.

For a whole week, the coalition forces attacked the city like crazy.

The Norwegians, Danes, Swedes, and Prussians took turns attacking. It is said that the wild dogs were tired of eating the corpses in the city.

Groups of new recruits walked towards Smolensk on a swamp-like road.

From time to time there are smoking tractors, rumbling across the muddy road.

"The one at the front is the Jiujiu Division, and the division commander is Geng Jingzhong." Li Dingguo stood next to Li Xiao and reported to Li Xiao about the Smolensk battle.

Li Dingguo is now the commander of the Second Army of the Ming Dynasty Expeditionary Force, responsible for commanding the entire northern front defensive operations.

Geng Jingzhong and Hei Yunlong's cavalry escaped from Minsk and were replenished to form the Ninth Division.

As you can tell from the name, this is a temporarily organized unit.

"Geng Jingzhong?

He was beaten badly in Guangxi, can you safely hand over Smolensk to him?" Li Xiao looked back at Li Dingguo.

Li Dingguo swallowed. He also knew how badly Geng Jingzhong was defeated in Guangxi.

But there was no way, so he and Heiyunlong withdrew to Smolensk. They were the biggest force in Smolensk. At that time, Li Dingguo was still waiting to board the train in Zhangwu.

For nearly a month, Geng Jingzhong and his men were the only defensive force in Smolensk.

Especially after Heiyunlong was injured and evacuated, Smolensk's defense could only rely on Geng Jingzhong.

When the time came to test his character, Li Dingguo took a deep breath.

"Geng Jingzhong fought well. The coalition forces have been attacking Smolensk frantically for eleven days.

The strength of the coalition forces was more than five times that of Geng Jingzhong.

Even so, Geng Jingzhong still led his men to defend Smolensk. Although... part of it was occupied by the coalition forces, it was therefore more difficult for the coalition's artillery to function."

"You mean that Geng Jingzhong played well?"

"Commander, Geng Jingzhong did not play well in Guangxi.

But here, he has indeed done a good job. Even if his subordinates go to command defensive operations, the best situation is what it is now."

"How are the casualties of the troops?" Li Xiao always paid great attention to casualties.

His motto is: Use the smallest sacrifice to achieve the greatest victory.

"...!" Li Dingguo was afraid that Li Xiao would ask this.

Smolensk is now a meat grinder. After eleven days of siege, fifteen thousand additional troops have been added.

Geng Jingzhong may not even know how many people are left in the city of Smolensk.

"What's wrong? The report says that we have added 20,000 people to you, but you are still asking for reinforcements.

The soldiers at the rear cannot blow out bubbles.

It takes three months from recruitment to training.

Almost all the soldiers from the Xi'an Recruit Training Center have been assigned to you."

"Commander!

The battle in Smolensk was fought like this because of no choice.

Of the additional 20,000 people, 15,000 have been allocated to Geng Jingzhong. Now, almost all of them have been used up.

However, the number of coalition forces they destroyed was at least twice as many as this.

If you want to blame, just blame the humble position." Li Dingguo was heartbroken. At this time, he could only stand by his subordinates.

"Fifteen thousand people, you defeated them in eleven days?" Li Xiao's eyes widened. He thought that the battle of Smolensk would be cruel, but he never thought that it would be so cruel.

.

"Ten days, it will be gone in ten days.

Now, I have also filled in the last five thousand people in my hand." Li Dingguo actually had the nerve to correct it.

"Prodigal son!" Li Xiao gritted his teeth in anger.

Some people say that soldiers should die, but soldiers are not fools. Their lives are also lives. They may not be good-looking, and they may have this or that problem.

But they are human beings, not chopping firewood!

A general cannot use soldiers as firewood!

"Commander, there are battles happening all the time in Smolensk.

Artillery fire was useless, and both sides could only rely on machine guns, grenades, and mortars to fight.

There were landmines everywhere in that place, and if you were not careful, you would lose your feet or legs.

Many times, our soldiers had to fight hand-to-hand with taller coalition soldiers.

Commander, if we don't have pistols, we will be at a disadvantage in hand-to-hand combat.

Anyone who can survive more than two days on such a battlefield is considered a veteran.

If you survive for three days, you can become a squad leader, if you survive for five days, you can become a platoon leader, and if you survive from the beginning of the battle to today, the worst you can do is become a company commander.

Handsome!

It’s not that we are cruel!

It's because we don't want to let the enemy cross the Dnieper River and hold the enemy in Smolensk until at least mid-November. This is an order from you and the General Staff.

Geng Jingzhong tried his best, but he vomited blood three times in ten days.

Handsome!

If there is a way, who will send the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty into the meat grinder? They are all our people of the Ming Dynasty!"

By the time he said it to the end, Li Dingguo was already crying.

Li Xiao took a deep breath. Although he couldn't smell anything, he still felt the smell of blood coming to his face.

Although kindness does not control soldiers, justice does not amass wealth, but Li Xiao always wanted to bring as many soldiers home as possible.

This is what he has done since he led a group of people to Pi Island.

He never thought that he would order batch after batch of Ming soldiers to die.

Smolensk is a place of death, a meat grinder similar to Verdun.

In that battle, both sides suffered more than 600,000 casualties.

Li Xiao does not have that many lives to fill in Smolensk, nor does he want to fill it in.

One will become famous and all bones will wither!

Li Xiao has become famous, but he has never thought about letting his subordinates wither.

In the distance, several airships were wreaking havoc over Smolensk.

Explosions kept coming, and even though they were very far away, Li Xiao still felt the tremor of the earth.

This is a 1,000 kilogram bomb, the kind that creates a mushroom cloud when it explodes.

The Ming Dynasty did not have large-caliber anti-aircraft guns, and the ground troops had no way to use airships that dropped bombs at high altitudes.

We can only bite the bullet and endure it!

One drop of that thing can easily kill dozens or even hundreds of people.

Every time the ground trembled, Li Xiao's heart dropped a little.

The soldiers of the Ming Dynasty are really being smelted in iron and blood.

But they are still new recruits who have only been in the army for a few months.
To be continued...