Chapter 1275: A Mad Choice

Rumyantsev was also holding a meeting in his own tent.

Just as Zou Sheng had guessed, Rumyantsev decided to launch the final offensive.

The icy, snowy weather of the past few days gave him the best opportunity.

He knew well that the Russian Army was most adept at fighting in extreme weather; by comparison, the Longyan were somewhat inferior in this regard.

This was an opportunity sent to him by the Heavens!

He had to seize it!

Because he had long realized that this war, having reached this point, had already lost its original meaning. Because they, Tsarist Russia, had paid too much for it. For the sake of this war, more than half of Tsarist Russia's national income had already been consumed. Moreover, Rumyantsev was in the Wusu region, which was a massive basin, so he had always been inside a jar.

This was the part that made him very uncomfortable.

But there was no Method; he could only bite the bullet and fight, as he knew Peter's temper.

If Peter wanted Liangzhou, then he only needed to consider how to take Liangzhou, without needing to consider at all how to persuade Peter to abandon this war.

Facts also proved that Rumyantsev's guess was correct.

This great army of theirs had been dragged here for over a whole year! On one hand, they had to free up their hands to deal with those local Wusun armed forces, and on the other hand, they had to consider how to capture Yanqi.

But everything had been arranged very thoroughly by Rumyantsev.

Especially last year, when the Longyan Army suddenly opened the city gates to launch surprise attacks on them several times; if other generals had been commanding the troops, they would likely have been scattered by the Longyan long ago. However, Rumyantsev's experience was truly seasoned, and he had managed to block several surprise attacks that were stunning enough to be considered miraculous, and he still held the upper hand.

This was the role of a famous general.

The next day.

Tsarist Russia truly launched its strongest general offensive in a year. As the sky just broke at dawn, an army of one hundred thousand began to assemble; this first wave of one hundred thousand troops began the attack, and among this wave of the great army, the Cossack Cavalry alone numbered fifty thousand. Additionally, the first echelon also had all of Tsarist Russia's Siege Engines.

The Siege Engines began attacking the city at the first opportunity, while the cavalry began to harass the city gates.

Infantry and Shield Soldiers went into battle together.

The Artillery followed behind them.

Early in the morning, an alarm sounded in Yanqi City, and Zou Sheng also climbed up at the first opportunity; it was cold, too cold. Sure enough, this Rumyantsev still chose to launch the attack on the first day after the heavy snow. The old saying went: it is warm when it snows and cold when the snow melts; the weather after a heavy snow is the coldest.

"Damn it, are they coming again?"

"How are we supposed to fight this!"

"The blades are frozen solid!"

"Damn it, I'm not fighting anymore!"

"Let's surrender!"

As the alarm sounded, the soldiers in the camp began to complain and grumble everywhere, and morale was naturally greatly affected.

"All on alert, those who disobey the order will be executed!"

Zou Sheng understood the feelings of these soldiers very well, but there was no Method; this was war, and he could only use military orders to address the situation.

On the Longyan side, they immediately began to defend. The weather was too cold, and the defenders just now had their hands and feet almost frozen stiff, which made the aim of those operating the Artillery and Muskets poor. Facing the fierce attack of this one-hundred-thousand-strong Russian Army, Yanqi suddenly felt a pressure it had never felt before!

Under the bombardment of the Artillery, the city walls began to collapse.

At that moment, quite a few people were blown to pieces, with severed limbs flying about. But very quickly, reserve soldiers filled in.

The battle situation began to turn tragic.

Just as these one hundred thousand had entered the battle, Rumyantsev gave the order again for another one hundred thousand to strike.

Two hundred thousand troops—the grandeur of this scene went without saying. The Artillery bombarded incessantly, covering the sky and earth. This time, the Russian Army followed the Siege Engines and slowly pushed the Cannon closer to the city gates, which allowed the Cannonballs to be thrown into the city more effectively. For a time,

Yanqi's buildings, Yanqi's streets, and every part of Yanqi were threatened by the artillery fire.

"Bastards!"

"These Russians are truly too ruthless!"

The generals on the wall all had their expressions change drastically.

If it were any other day, these Russian troops would never dare to pull the Cannon so close, because the Red Barbarian Cannon on the Longyan side had better effects and greater power. As long as their Cannon dared to enter the range of the Longyan Artillery, the Longyan Artillery would carry out a devastating strike on their Cannon...

But today.

The situation was different. Because of the weather, the Artillery on the Longyan side either lacked accuracy due to the operators being cold, or they simply misfired. Under such circumstances, the threat they posed to the Russian Cannon began to diminish. In this situation, the threat the Russian Cannon posed to them was the opposite. As long as a Cannonball landed, it would definitely pose a threat to Yanqi; even if they were firing blindly, they could still cause some casualties.

In the past year, this was the first time Yanqi City had been this chaotic.

"Evacuate!"

"Evacuate the crowd!"

"Quick!"

The generals began to give orders anxiously.

The situation in the city also became chaotic.

Military camps, civilian houses, and various buildings suffered varying degrees of strikes and destruction.

Zou Sheng made a decision at the first opportunity: "Assemble the entire army to prepare for an encounter battle!"

"What?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's expression changed drastically.

An encounter battle?

This was clearly a siege battle, and you insist on fighting it as an encounter battle? Isn't this courting death? They clearly had a defensive advantage.

"General, you must not, absolutely not!"

"General!"

A group of people were all anxious.

Zou Sheng, however, shouted coldly: "Generals, this general offensive by the Russians is absolutely a 'burning of the boats' move, which indicates one problem: they can't hold on anymore! They want to end this war sooner than we do! Therefore, they have been preparing for this general offensive for over a year!"

"For over a year, generals!"

Zou Sheng shouted coldly: "What kind of person is Rumyantsev! He is a famous general of Tsarist Russia; he has long studied our defensive siege tactics thoroughly! Do you think we can continue to hold on by passively taking a beating?"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone's expression changed.

Zou Sheng was right.

These generals had suffered enough from Rumyantsev at the very beginning of the Northwest war; later, when they couldn't hold out, they let Zou Sheng take over, but even with Zou Sheng in command, their resistance was always under immense pressure. Moreover, every city defense battle was more difficult than the last.

It was becoming increasingly difficult; Rumyantsev's combat methods were becoming more numerous and harder to counter.

With all sorts of flexible tactics and on-the-spot improvisations, one could say that battling Rumyantsev was simply a process of studying classic military case studies.

Fortunately, Zou Sheng had a strong ability to learn and a strong ability to adapt.

He had learned too much from this opponent, Rumyantsev. He felt a mutual appreciation for this opponent. Likewise, he felt that Rumyantsev surely felt the same way about him.

Therefore.

He understood Rumyantsev.

He understood this "teacher"; since he had decided to launch a full-scale offensive this time, he must have made complete preparations.

This time, if Zou Sheng still used the old methods and stuck to the routine of city defense, he would definitely not be able to hold out. Rumyantsev's military theory was very strong, and he had many tricks up his sleeve when fighting. To this day, Zou Sheng had not yet fully mastered them.

Then what was the Method?

Fight!

Zou Sheng could only pin his hopes on using a Surprise Unit.

Take them by surprise!

This was the advantage of being young and full of youthful vigor.

Of course, whether it was actually an advantage, he did not know yet.

But at the very least, he dared to do it. He believed that if it were Rumyantsev, in this situation, he would be even less likely to make such a choice. Rumyantsev was experienced, but overly conservative. Therefore, since he wouldn't dare, it meant he would not guess that Zou Sheng would do this.

An encounter battle, as the name implies, meant leading the army out to fight these Tsarist Russia Army forces on the plains!

This was absolutely a bold and crazy idea.

Because since ancient times, as long as there was a strategic position to defend, one would not choose an encounter battle. Relying on defensible terrain to fight was undoubtedly an advantage.

But this time, Zou Sheng intended to take an unconventional path.

Why?

In his considerations, Yanqi behind him absolutely could not be lost.

But if he let the Tsarist Russia Army continue to bombard them like this, he feared the entire Yanqi City would be leveled to the ground. Therefore, he had only one choice: move the battlefield forward! Even if it meant using the soldiers' lives, he had to protect the Yanqi City behind them!

Although this increased the difficulty of the battle significantly, it had one benefit.

That was, one could advance or retreat.

If they really couldn't beat the Tsarist Russia Army, they could retreat and fight again; if they couldn't hold the defense upon returning, they would go back out to fight.

Although the risk was great, this required Zou Sheng to have a masterful grasp of the entire battlefield situation. If it ever went out of control, it would truly be over; not only would the entire army be wiped out, but Yanqi City would also be lost.

So, a group of generals were about to go crazy when they heard his strategy.

"General, please think twice!"

"General..."

"General, this must not be done!"

Zou Sheng insisted on his own opinion, drew his sword, and coldly shouted: "Execute the military order! Those who disobey will be beheaded!"

Everyone's expression changed.

Execute the order!

There was no other Method; everyone became nervous. They all knew that this battle would be the most intense, and it was highly likely to be the last battle! No one dared to slack off even a little. Although they had not agreed with Zou Sheng's combat method just now, since it was decided, they would certainly prepare for it seriously.

Encounter battle.

Plain battle.

Very soon.

The 150,000-strong Longyan Army had finished gathering.

No one could have imagined it.

Even Zou Sheng could not imagine now what the outcome of this battle would be.