The sun never sets

Mori Xun thought: There is a huge difference.

But he was not a soldier, and he didn't care about fighting. Morison waited for Major General Robert to wipe the dust off his face, and then instructed him to pose in a few easy positions, and then pressed the shutter, "click, click" to take pictures of the other side. There were already cameras in this era, but Morison was still used to using cameras, mainly because they were light enough and more reliable. Cameras were not only inconvenient to carry, but also often broke down. In Iran, there was no place to repair cameras. If the machinery and equipment broke down, the required parts had to be sent from the UK.

Morrison took a lot of photos, the main purpose of which was to show the bravery and bravery of the British army. Naturally, he would not take photos of the British army's miserable situation. He took some photos of the bodies left by the enemy and the craters on the ground. He also took photos of the Russians in a miserable state. Although Russia is an ally now, it may not be one day. The photos can be kept and sold to newspapers when the situation changes.

The coalition forces cleaned up the battlefield and set up camp nearby, preparing to spend the night. The weather in the desert at this time of year was extremely hot during the day and freezing at night. Although they had left the desert, the weather had not changed much. If they were not prepared, the cold at night could freeze many people to death.

During the night break, Morison was writing in his diary by candlelight when he suddenly heard gunshots in the distance. He quickly grabbed the pistol beside him, opened the door curtain and walked out, asking the British soldiers outside: "What's going on? Are the enemies attacking again?"

He knew that Orientals liked to attack at night. When he was in China, he interviewed many people and consulted a lot of information to know this. But it was so cold at night, why not lie in a warm quilt?

The gunfire did not last long, and it stopped in less than half an hour. Morison crawled into the tent, put his things away, and soon fell asleep on the camp bed. "Boom!" The sudden explosion woke Morison up. He lay on the bed and opened his eyes to look at the top of the tent. The starlight penetrated the small space through the curtain, bringing a little light to the darkness, allowing him to see something instead of a dark mass.

Morison knew that he might not sleep well tonight, just like before. When marching in the desert, the Tatars would sometimes come to harass them at night. They didn't really fight, they just made it hard for them to sleep. Repeated harassment was not uncommon. The Boers in South Africa

It can also be used, and the effect is very good.

Things went as Morison had guessed. The sound of gunfire could be heard from time to time around the camp. Morison was awakened several times, and it was not until dawn that he finally fell asleep. But before he could get a good few hours of sleep, it was time to set off. Morison did not complain. As a qualified adventurer, he did not take this little difficulty to heart.

You know, he has experienced much worse situations than this, but he still got through it, didn't he?

But the others were not as open-minded as Morison. Many British soldiers were extremely tired. They kept cursing while packing up and preparing breakfast. Morison did not talk much with these soldiers. In the British Army and many other armies, soldiers and officers were from two different worlds. Soldiers were soldiers. Even if they were promoted to sergeants, they still belonged to the soldier class. Officers were officers and would never degenerate to the point of mixing with soldiers.

Many of the British soldiers were forcibly captured, which is commonly known as "conscripting". British officers have claimed on many occasions that their soldiers are scum and only whips can make them remember what discipline is. Morison is also a superior person. He may fall in love with one or two soldiers, but his focus is on more noble people. For example: Major General Robert and Lieutenant General Alexander.

"Major General, the weather is nice today."

Morison, who was holding a cup of coffee, found Major General Robert, who was enjoying breakfast with the service of the orderly. "It's very good, a rare good weather." It is a tradition for the British to talk about the weather when they meet. After talking about the weather, they started to talk about business.

"Will we attack today?"

"Yes, that's right."

“I think…”

Major General Robert waved his hand. "I don't care what you think, I care what I think! Mr. Morison, just focus on filming, and we will take care of the rest, OK?"

You asked me if I was OK, of course I was OK.

After enjoying breakfast with the Major General, Mori Xunrun went back to pack up his things, and then led the camel towards Sapzeval. They had to seize a place to rest and replenish water. There was still a lot of food, but the main thing was to replenish water. With the powerful firepower of the British, Russian and Iranian coalition forces, it should not be difficult to flatten the dilapidated city walls. There were not many enemies in the city. As long as the city walls were demolished, it would be easy to eliminate the enemies who commanded the sneak attack.

The coalition forces crossed the desert in order to take the enemy by surprise. Now it seems that the surprise attack plan has failed, but it doesn’t matter, as the coalition forces still have advantages in manpower and firepower.

But when the troops had advanced less than ten miles, they found a large number of Tatar cavalrymen around them. The Tatars did not launch a large-scale attack, but just hung around, occasionally rushing over to bite, but soon left, and would not fight to the death with the coalition forces.

Chapter 518: Moving Forward

A large number of Tatar cavalry appeared around, and a commotion inevitably broke out in the coalition army. The British and Russian armies were relatively calm. The generals and officers knew that the cavalry's frontal combat effectiveness was not as good as that of the infantry. In the face of machine guns and rapid-fire cannons, the cavalry could do very little. Lieutenant General Alexander and Major General Robert ordered the army to continue moving forward. There was no need to pay attention to the cavalry around. They needed to seize Sapzeval as a place to rest. This was the most important thing now. Driving away those annoying Tatar cavalry could only come second... or even later.

The British and Russian armies showed the qualities of the armies of the great powers. Surrounded by tens of thousands of cavalry, they still resolutely implemented the established tactics. However, the Iranian government army did not have this ability. The Tatar cavalry tried to attack several times and soon discovered the weakness and low morale of the Iranian army. When the vanguard of the coalition army saw the walls of Sapzevar, Li Dayan used other cavalry to contain the British and Russian armies, and personally led the [Mongol Iron Cavalry] to launch a fierce attack on the Iranians.

The Iranians were the weakest link in the three-nation coalition. Not only were they poorly equipped and had low morale, but their connections with the British and Russian armies were also problematic. After being attacked fiercely, they quickly fell into panic. The Iranians were responsible for transporting logistics and supplies. They had no machine guns, but they did have a few cannons, but they were all old-fashioned cannons from more than ten years ago that could only fire one round every few minutes.

In the panic, the Iranian government forces did not have time, or no one remembered to deploy the cannons on the spot, and the battle had already entered the stage of hand-to-hand combat. The impact of the [Mongol cavalry] was very strong, and what was even more excessive was that they were equipped with many machine guns and cannons. The Iranians were first dizzy by the heavy firepower, and after entering the hand-to-hand combat, they collapsed after only holding on for less than ten minutes.

This is not an Iranian war, but a battle between Britain, Russia and China. The Iranians were already considered conscientious if they could resist for ten minutes.

An hour later, Major General Robert arrived with reinforcements and saw the logistics convoy that had been burned and looted. The hateful Tatars burned everything they could not take away and killed all the livestock they could not take away.

As for the Iranian government troops, they either became corpses on the ground or had already collapsed. Many Iranians grabbed an animal and ran in the direction they came from, or ran in other directions. There are deserts and mountains in Iran, but there are also some oases and plains. As long as you are lucky, you can still escape.

.

"Damn it!" Major General Robert was so angry that his mouth was twisted. "There were more than 10,000 of them, and they were all killed in less than half an hour! Even if there were 10,000 pigs, they couldn't be caught in an hour, right?"

The adjutant next to him reminded him: "Sir, Iranians are taboo about talking about pigs."

"They are pigs! No, they are worse than pigs!"

The adjutant said helplessly: "Yes, the Iranians are worse than pigs, but what should we do now?" He pointed at the burning cart and said, "I checked and there is nothing left. The army only has enough food and water for two days. Even if we use it sparingly, we can only last two more days. In four days, we will be out of water and food."

In fact, the situation is not that bad. Each unit has some food with it, but it is difficult to get them to share the food and redistribute it. Maybe the Scots can be forced to do so, but it is hard to say about other units. When food is scarce, the British cannot share food with the Russians, and vice versa.

Robert took out a cigar and put it in his mouth. "Four days is enough! Don't forget that there is a Russian army in Turkmenistan. As long as they launch an attack, everything will be fine!"

Lieutenant General Alexander had a different opinion. In the subsequent military meeting, he insisted that they should first capture Sapzevar and then attack Mashhad. At the military meeting, the generals quarreled. The current situation was so bad, should they continue the attack?

First, the enemy discovered the plan to cross the desert. Maybe the Iranians leaked the plan? Then, they were stunned by the Japanese attack. Now even the supplies were burned. How could they fight? A normal person should know that something was wrong, but Lieutenant General Alexander still insisted on launching an attack. "Only an attack can crush the enemy!"

It's good to say, but you have to do it.

Lieutenant General Alexander slammed the table... Well, there was no table to slam. He said to everyone with a serious expression: "We don't have much food left. No matter what, we must take down Sapzeval first. Do you have any objection?"

No one raised any objections. Even a bear as irritable as the Russians knew that the current situation was not good. If they didn't take a place to stay soon, everyone would be in trouble. However, due to the sudden collapse of the Iranians, the coalition forces were left with less than 20,000 people, and were already at a disadvantage in terms of manpower. Although they had an advantage in artillery, the troops had just crossed the vast sea. Could they really take down the city in their current state?

"Gentlemen, we have no choice. To move forward is to live, to retreat is to die!"

Lieutenant General Alexander looked around. "Are you planning to cross the desert again without supplies?"

It is not necessary to take the road in the desert, but it is the shortest road. The roads in other directions are at least three times farther. The temperature difference between day and night in the desert is very large, and walking on the sand will not make you go fast, but climbing the mountain is not necessarily any easier.

The generals who participated in the military meeting reached a consensus, and the coalition forces continued to advance towards Sapzevar. That night, the Tatar cavalry launched another night attack, but the coalition forces were already prepared. In the face of machine gun and rifle fire, the Tatar cavalry left hundreds of dead bodies of men and horses, but failed to achieve much results, and only made the coalition forces more exhausted.

After the Iranians had almost all fled, the number of coalition forces was reduced by nearly half, but their combat effectiveness was not weakened, but became stronger.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast, the coalition forces left their starting positions and launched an attack on Sapzeval. Many generals and officers in the Russian army had fought against the Chinese in the Northeast. They knew that the People's Army was very tenacious in defense. The barbed wire and trenches were like a devil. After so many years, many people still remember the cruel scene of dozens or hundreds of Russian bodies hanging on the barbed wire. The British army did not fight the People's Army after the Eight-Nation Alliance, but they had a good relationship with the French and got a lot of first-hand information from the two Vietnam Wars, so they were not unfamiliar with the People's Army.

Before attacking Sapzeval, the Russian and British armies were well prepared for a siege, bringing so many cannons and shells just for this one blow.

However, there were no barbed wire or jagged trenches. Outside the city of Sapzewal there was only a grassy plain and nothing else.

Chapter 519 No Choice

Although they were delayed for a day and a half, when the British and Russian forces arrived at the city of Sapwazel, there was no barbed wire outside the city, no mines were laid everywhere, and even the city gates were not closed, but were left open.

Major General Robert and Lieutenant General Alexander had never seen the "empty city plan" and would not be frightened by the situation of the gate being wide open. A company of Russian soldiers rushed into the city with bayonets and occupied the city gate. Then the coalition forces poured into the city and controlled the entire Sapzeval. An officer described the process of occupying Sapzeval as "as easy as traveling."

The atmosphere in the army became relaxed. The haze that had been hanging over the coalition forces because of the Iranians' escape had dissipated. Morison felt bad, however. He felt that the scene before him was very familiar. Many years ago, when he was in North China, he encountered the same situation. When Marshal Waldersee led his troops to Tianjin, he occupied many uninhabited villages and towns, and then the night raid group: 6949, 36135 was captured by the Chinese.

We are surrounded. Now...

Morison felt that something was wrong, so he dropped his camera and ran to find Major General Robert, who was furious. "Damn it! All the wells in the city are polluted!"

"Ah?" Morison felt his stomach contract and felt that the situation was getting worse. He quickly told Major General Robert about his concerns.

Major General Robert thought for a moment, "It shouldn't be..."

"boom!"

Explosions sounded in the north of the city, and someone outside shouted, in both English and Russian, "Fire!"

"fire!"

Before leaving, Shikataro Kishimoto polluted all the wells and placed kerosene and wood in the city, preparing to roast the beasts. But perhaps his arson skills were not good enough, or perhaps he was not serious enough when watching Romance of the Three Kingdoms. In short, the fire in the city did start, but it did not engulf the entire city. It only burned about one-third of the area, and did not kill a few allied soldiers. Instead, the beasts were frightened and ran around everywhere, causing many casualties.

While the coalition forces were busy putting out the fire, Li Dayan led his troops to surround Sapzewar from three directions, leaving only one opening in the west. However, going west would lead to a desert stretching for hundreds of miles. If the coalition forces fled from the west, they would collapse on their own because they did not have enough drinking water.

After finding themselves half-surrounded, the British and Russian coalition forces did not stay in the city, but went out of the city to fight. The Russian army had carried out military reforms, and its technical and tactical levels had been greatly improved. The attacked cavalry could not stop the fierce attack of the Russian army, and had to retreat to the north after half an hour of fighting. However, the performance of the British army was much worse.

Lee-Enfield is almost the best bolt-action rifle. The British regular army is well trained, but their tactics are completely outdated. The lobster soldiers are arranged in neat rows, but they are useless. Shikataro Kishimoto only used half of his troops to stop the British army. Under the double blow of Maxim machine guns and mortars, the British army was covered with corpses. After two consecutive charges, the British army suffered thousands of casualties. Shikataro Kishimoto then launched a counterattack and drove the British army back to the city.

The Russian army performed well, but it was of little use. After chasing for more than ten miles, the [Mongol cavalry] attacked the Russian army from the side, and the Russian cavalry regiment was submerged in the cavalry clusters all over the mountains.

Li Dayan sent his cavalry into the battlefield one by one, first defeated the Russian cavalry regiment, then seized the Russian artillery, and destroyed and captured nearly three thousand Russian troops in the field battle, but his own side also lost a similar number of troops.

As one of the five tiger generals of the Republic, Li Dayan was very dissatisfied with the exchange ratio. He had three times as many troops as the Russians, but the exchange ratio was almost one to one. In the end, almost half of the Russians escaped. He knew that the combat effectiveness of the miscellaneous cavalry was very poor, but he was still very dissatisfied.

Fortunately, the British army performed even worse, which saved some face. Moreover, the enemy was surrounded in the city of Sapzevar, and the overall situation was decided. The Russian army did not fail tactically. It was able to kill and wound a considerable number of people despite being outnumbered and attacked from both sides, proving that Russia's army reform was effective and that it had no problem crushing the steppe cavalry in Central Asia. However, the tactical victory was meaningless. They were surrounded in the city like the British, lacking food and almost no drinking water.

All the water sources in the city were polluted. The British and Russian coalition forces dug three feet, thirty feet, and sixty feet into the ground, only to find a small puddle. After feeding it to livestock, they found that it was drinkable, so they filtered it and supplied it to the army. However, this puddle was very small, barely enough for about a hundred people to drink. However, there were more than 10,000 coalition troops, so this little water was not enough.

This time, Li Dayan did not try to "surround three sides and attack one side", but surrounded the enemy from all sides, waiting for the coalition forces to break out again, or surrender after running out of food and water.

The British army carried a radio in this military operation, but the radio broke down and they were unable to contact Tehran or other places. After being surrounded in the city of Sapzewar, they had almost no way out. It turned out that they could not defeat the enemy outside the city, and they could not contact the outside world, so it was impossible to summon reinforcements.

"So we have no choice?"

"In fact, even if the radio station is not broken, we still have no choice."

Major General Robert reached into his pocket and found that the cigar box had been lost in the battle. He could only curse "damn it" again, and then said in distress: "We have no food or drink, and we can only hold out for two days at most. Even if the radio is good and we can contact Tehran, and assuming we have enough reinforcements, we can't get here within two days."

"so?"

Robert swallowed, feeling as if there was a fire burning in his throat, "So, we have no choice."

Morison sighed. This was not the first time he was arrested by the Chinese. He was captured during the Eight-Nation Alliance and was put in a detention center for "smuggling cultural relics." Thinking of this, Morison became indignant again. He just wanted to move the antiquities found in archaeology to the British Museum. Is there anything wrong with that?

That is archaeology, which is to protect objects and materials handed down from ancient times.

"Smuggling cultural relics!"

He was indignant for half a minute, then asked Major General Robert, "So are we going to surrender now?"

"No, we won't surrender until tomorrow."

"why?"

"The food and water will last another day. General Alexander is ready to surrender tomorrow."

"........Does this make sense?"

"Of course!" Major General Robert replied seriously: "The British Empire's army cannot surrender easily!"

"........."

Chapter 520 No Money

The main force of the British-Russian coalition was trapped in the city. Although there were still dozens of cannons, they no longer had the strength to continue fighting. It was only a matter of time before they were defeated. After the Russian army on the northern front received the news, they launched another wave of attacks. Rokossovsky defended the city impeccably. The morale of his Poles, Ukrainians and Russians was high, and they drove the Russian army back several times with hand-to-hand combat.

Rokossovsky also had a heavy artillery regiment, real heavy artillery, German 150mm howitzers, with long range and great power, deployed in the rear, calibrated by telephone lines, and each salvo could create a devastating area on the ground. However, the number of shells was insufficient, so Rokossovsky could only call for the heavy artillery regiment to cover fire at the most critical moment.

The Russian army's combat effectiveness has been greatly enhanced, but it has not been able to completely get rid of the "group charge" set. In the face of modern weapons, the more bravely the Russian army charged, the faster they died. Perhaps because gray animals are worthless, Russian officers don't care much about the casualties of their soldiers.

After two days, one of the Russian infantry divisions had suffered nearly half casualties and completely lost its ability to attack. The Russians' technical and tactical skills had improved a lot, but there was still no change in other aspects. Because there were many serfs in the army, Russian officers had few choices. The simpler the tactics, the better. They could not use complex tactics. In addition, the soldiers would take it easy. If the army was dispersed or sent out for military operations such as encirclement, some troops might temporarily "disappear".

This is absolutely certain, unless the Russian army is equipped with more officers. Therefore, the Russian army still likes to use "group charge". As long as the firepower is strong enough and the infantry is large enough, the enemy can be crushed. This is the experience summed up by the Russian army over dozens or hundreds of years. Even with military reforms, this tradition has not been changed.

By the time Li Dayan defeated the enemy on the western front and led his troops back to the northern front, the Russian army had added troops to the front line, not only making up for the losses but also further increasing the number of troops.

Li Dayan tried to fight back and achieved some results, but failed to completely defeat the Russian army. Behind the Russian army was the Caspian Sea Military Region, which could send tens of thousands of troops to rescue at any time. As long as they tried to squeeze Turkmenistan dry, the Russian army could double the strength of the front line.

In the repeated entanglements with the Russian army, Li Dayan did not gain much advantage. The Russians were very fierce when attacking, and they were also not weak in defense. Every time the front line advanced northward, the combat effectiveness of the Russian army would increase. Even the [Mongol Iron Cavalry] could not get any good in front of machine guns and cannons.

So, clear the main road and lure the enemy deeper again?

The Russians were not fools. That's how the Western Front troops were destroyed. After the Chinese retreated, the Russian army did not pursue them, but retreated to Kurmanstan and then returned to the Caspian Sea. Seeing the Russian army retreat, Li Dayan immediately changed his tactics and led the cavalry to chase them all the way.

Both sides were good at defense but not good at offense. Li Dayan won a hearty victory, but suffered heavy losses. He could not continue the pursuit into Turkmenistan, so he could only return to Mashhad with his troops.

The preparations for the battle were long, but the actual fighting was quick and ended in a few days. The war in Iran killed and injured tens of thousands of people, but it did not cause any ripples in the world. Britain, Russia and China did not report much about the war here, as if the world had forgotten Iran.

Li Dayan took advantage of the victory to attack Tehran. As soon as he arrived at the city, he was shocked to hear that the Russian and British troops were pressing in from the north and south. After calculating the strength comparison, Li Dayan felt that he was a bit outmatched. He really couldn't win. He only had 15,000 regular troops, and the rest could only be considered militia. Both the British and Russian troops had tens of thousands of troops.

Previously, he was able to win a great victory because he was well rested. Now the situation was reversed. Li Dayan led his troops to run hundreds of miles to attack Tehran. The terrain and people were not on his side. Even if he could eliminate some enemies, his own casualties would inevitably be great. In this case, Li Dayan did not force it. After extorting a ransom from Tehran, he led his troops to retreat leisurely.

Seeing this situation, the British and Russian troops also breathed a sigh of relief. Li Dayan knew that he had no more than 20,000 soldiers, but the British and Russians saw that Li Dayan had 100,000 cavalrymen. The power of the Mongolian cavalry's charge left a deep impression on both the British and Russians.

The British army did not want to fight the Chinese again. Facts have proved that the British army's combat effectiveness is very problematic away from the sea. They can't even beat the Boers. They can only fight against uncivilized natives. The Russians want to compete with the Chinese again. Tens of thousands of casualties are insignificant to Russia. There are many idle young men in the countryside, and they can easily raise tens of thousands of people.

people.

However, Russia's economic situation was very bad. The Tsarist government owed Britain and France more than 4 billion gold rubles, and the interest alone was several hundred million rubles a year. It was already very difficult for the Russian army to update its weapons and equipment, and it was the best it could do to send tens of thousands of troops to fight abroad. There was really no money to support a large-scale war unless Britain and France continued to pay.

Without money, there is no way to fight a war. This is an eternal truth. Without money, the Russians cannot deploy a large number of standing troops to the battlefield. If they grit their teeth and make the people suffer, they can still squeeze out some war funds. But Russia's current focus is on Europe, and secondly on the Balkan Peninsula. Opening up the road to the Mediterranean and retaking Constantinople has been the long-cherished wish of the Orthodox Church for hundreds of years.

What is there in Central Asia? Cows and sheep?

It is not worth mobilizing for war for that barren land. If it could be easily taken, maybe we could still grit our teeth. Now gritting our teeth is not very useful, so forget it. Anyway, the Iranians are the ones who suffer, and Russia's interests in Tehran are not damaged...not much damage, right?

Shortly after the war ended, a ceasefire agreement was reached between China, Britain and Russia. The British paid a large sum of money to redeem all the prisoners of war. The Russians also paid a sum of money to redeem the generals and officers, but did not care about the soldiers.

"What about the Russian prisoners of war?"

"Just like before, break them up and send them to mining, or let them herd sheep!"

The Russians were unwilling to pay to redeem the soldiers, and Li Dayan would not support people who ate for free. It didn't matter if they were not redeemed. Except for some people selected by Rokossovsky to replace the lost personnel, the rest were arranged, either to herd sheep in the northern desert or to grow cotton in the western regions. There was always a suitable place.

Chapter 521 Railway