The sea breeze in July blew on the sea surface, and the warm sea breeze blew into St. Petersburg against the water surface.

Every evening, citizens all sit in the sunshine and enjoy this rare summer warmth.

Today seems to be no exception. Citizens gathered together to talk about the war between Russia and the Allied Forces.

This summer has been difficult for Russia, from Iasi to Kharkiv, Orel, and Minsk. The entire western front of Russia has become a mess.

Looking at Europe, only Russia has the human resources to compete with the entire Western Europe.

Trench warfare slowed down the Allied forces and prevented them from unleashing their massive offensive capabilities.

Facing a defense line composed of artillery, barbed wire, and machine guns, relying on people to attack it is no different from committing suicide.

Kutuzov's vision has come true. If the war is delayed for another two or three months, winter will come in Russia.

Whether it is the Prussians or the French, their desire to attack will be imprisoned by the cold Russian winter, and they will no longer be able to make an inch further.

July is the most critical month. As long as the defense line is not breached in July, Kutuzov's vision will be completely realized.

It was the first Sunday in July. After a pleasant evening, the citizens returned home to sleep.

The war is coming, and there is still a lot of work to be done in the factory tomorrow.

The work is tiring and the pay is little.

The daily remuneration was very little left after buying bread. The children's desire to eat a piece of candy became a luxury.

Fortunately, St. Petersburg has not yet been affected by the war. Although people's lives are difficult, they can still survive.

People who have escaped say that life in a war zone is difficult.

The citizens of St. Petersburg are praying, hoping that the war will never burn here.

What they don't know is that there is a large group of behemoths parked on the sea far away that they cannot see. They are like giant beasts, lying quietly on the sea, ready to devour anyone at any time.

For this operation, Li Xiu mobilized more than 70 ships of various types. Among them, seven arsenal ships were sent out in Sevastopol this time.

Before the troops landed, Li Xiu planned to plow the preset landing site with artillery shells to ensure the success of the landing.

This time we landed, there was a lot of pressure in the country.

The reason is that Ming Dynasty is not prepared to pay the blood of Ming Dynasty soldiers for a war without benefits.

Li Xiu had no way to object, because his eldest brother Li Xiao was the one who proposed this argument.

Li Xiao said more than once that the purpose of war is only money, money, and more money.

A war without profit is not worth a drop of blood of the soldiers.

Without Li Xiao's support, the price offered by the coalition was very tempting. So tempting that Li Xiu couldn't refuse!

There is nothing that can be done about this. The imperial court allocates fixed amounts to the navy. But the navy always has some unplanned expenditures, so applying to the Ministry of Household Affairs is basically a waste of time.

Once, Li Xiu was so angry that he grabbed Ai Husheng's collar and wanted to kill him.

Ai Husheng spread his hands, asking for money without risking his life. Besides, all the money from the court is now being spent on building railways, building roads, and building schools in various places.

There are also scientific research institutions in Liaodong, which are all gold-eating beasts.

Being able to build a warship in two years is already the best that the Ministry of Revenue can provide. There is no army. Even the weapons of Ao Ye's first division have not been updated in three years.

Li Xiu just pulled his neck and collar, and the angry Master Ao put the gun directly on Ai Husheng's head. There was nothing Ai Husheng could do about it.

No money! The Ministry of Household Affairs really has no money now. All the money has been used by the commander-in-chief for construction and education.

Li Xiu had no choice but to make money by himself.

This time was a good opportunity to make money, so Li Xiu had no choice but to use mercenaries.

The so-called mercenaries are the Naval Foreign Legion.

These people are not in the naval establishment, but the Ming Dynasty will pay them salaries. And as long as they obtain military merit, they can live in Ming vassal states, such as Ryukyu, Japan, Korea, Jiaozhi, and Singapore.

The salary offered by the navy is not high, but the right of residence in the Ming Dynasty's vassal country is very valuable.

Therefore, murderers, pirates, wanted criminals, etc., all kinds of criminals from all over the world came from all over the world to join this big family.

Anyway, being caught would lead to death. Not only would you get money by fighting for the Ming Dynasty, but you could also obtain the right of residence in the Ming Dynasty's vassal country.

As long as they live in the Ming vassal country, no one will dare to cause trouble to them. After years of serving as soldiers, they can collect some money and find a local woman to marry, and they can live a good life.

Li Xiu raised three regiments of these guys. They learned the Ming Dynasty's language and received training from the Ming Dynasty.

They were originally man-eating wolves, but now they are equipped with fangs and claws. These guys have powerful explosive power and destructive power, and can defeat all fierce enemies.

Li Xiao took the battleship Kunlun Mountain and personally supervised the battle on the sea.

Today's Ming Dynasty Navy has achieved radio communication between ships. This is a convenience that no other navies in the world have!

In Li Xiu's command room, there were two platoons of radio operators sitting in contact with the ships at any time.

I looked at my watch, it was nine o'clock in the evening. It was already completely dark on the sea!

"The entire army moves forward and enters the waters of St. Petersburg." Li Xiu calculated the time and advanced at this speed. It was almost three or four o'clock in the morning when they arrived in the waters of St. Petersburg.

For this raid, Li Xiu specially chose this moonless night so that the fleet could approach St. Petersburg with maximum concealment.

To be precise, it is not completely moonless tonight.

The thin crescent moon hangs in the sky like bean sprouts and cannot be seen unless you look carefully.

The fleet rushed towards the port of St. Petersburg at full speed, encountering many Russian fishing boats along the way. The fleet ignored them at all. Given the speed of the fishing boats, they were too tired to send the news back before the fleet arrived in St. Petersburg.

On the contrary, destroying their artillery fire would expose the fleet's whereabouts.

Although these bastards in the Navy couldn't destroy those fishing boats with cannons, they never said they couldn't ram them.

The mountain-like warships rolled over, and those wooden fishing boats were pushed into the seabed without even bubbling. They were then broken into countless pieces by the propellers and emerged from the water with the currents.

As for the people on the fishing boat, no one was seen showing up. No one cared about these people. Everyone was eager to prepare for the upcoming landing battle.

After sailing all night, when the sky was just getting a little brighter, the fleet arrived at the sea off St. Petersburg and formed a battle formation.

At 4:30 in the morning, when there was just a glimmer of light, the two destroyers sailed into the port of St. Petersburg, and the demining plows towed behind them opened up a channel for the fleet behind them.

The result is surprising. In such an important port city, the Russians did not mine mines.

The news was quickly sent back via telegram, and Li Xiu even didn't believe it. He sent two destroyers again and towed the sea plow along the channel again. In the end, there were still no mines.

After a delay of almost half an hour, someone on the shore had already spotted the warship on the sea.

At 5:10 in the morning, four destroyers began shelling the shore.

The destroyer's artillery shells are all 120mm howitzers. The range is very long, the landing point is precise, and the explosion is powerful. Especially for those who are exposed, the grenade is more lethal.

When a shell falls on the ground, everyone within a thirty-meter radius will be injured. Either they will be killed by shrapnel, or they will be shocked by the strong explosion shock wave.

People thirty meters away will at least suffer from sequelae such as deafness.

As for people within ten meters, you can only lament your misfortune. Even if you are lying on the ground, your internal organs will be ruptured by the huge explosion, and even if you are alive, you will be worse than dead.

The destroyer came sideways and lined up its front and rear main guns to take turns bombarding the buildings in the port.

For a moment, thick smoke billowed in the port, and there were wailing sounds in the port. After all, there were only eight front and rear main guns in total, so it was impossible to cover the inside of the port with fire.

The port was filled with mourning, and people were running away from the port area.

Soon, someone rushed to St. Petersburg and reported the appearance of the coalition fleet in the port to Duke Peter.

An important city like St. Petersburg still has coastal artillery.

The sound of artillery was an order, and the coastal artillery quickly entered the fighting position. But before they could run towards the gun position, overwhelming rockets rained down like hail.

The exposed coastal artillery fell into the sea of ​​fire almost instantly. Not even 30% of the people who survived this round of bombardment were able to survive.

It can be said that the coastal artillery lost its combat effectiveness almost instantly.

It must be said that the Russians have a very tenacious will to fight.

The remaining coastal artillery units still got into the turret.

These reinforced concrete turrets have external armor plates and a 120mm howitzer. A direct hit can only eat away the outermost layer of skin.

The Russian artillerymen who got into the turret loaded their ammunition as quickly as possible, and the coastal artillery's 240mm cannon let out a deafening roar.

Everything was done in a hurry, but the impact point of the shells was still very accurate.

A shell landed only a few dozen meters away from the destroyer, which was considered a near-miss.

The power of the 240mm cannon was undeniable. The huge waves caused the destroyer's hull to tilt rapidly. At one time, the island's tilt reached 45 degrees. If it had been closer, this shell might be able to tilt the destroyer.

overturned.

The destroyer instantly misfired, and the four destroyers quickly turned around and prepared to evacuate the battlefield. Only the rear main guns continued to fire randomly into the port.

It gives the impression that the Ming fleet is fleeing in a hurry.

The Russian troops in the turret instantly became excited. They worked harder to push the shells over on carts, and then loaded them into the barrel.

"What is that?" Suddenly, a second lieutenant officer in charge of the lookout pointed at the sea in surprise.

On the sea in the distance, two mountain-like warships floated.

Those were not battleships, maybe they were two mountains of steel floating on the sea.
To be continued...