Li Xiao was still puzzled at the beginning, but he didn't expect that only the Prussian army was attacking Moscow.

So where are the French troops?

Now we know that the French actually deceived the aerial reconnaissance and actually moved to the Don River in secret!

It was too sudden. This attack was so damn sudden that Li Xiao was completely unable to defend himself.

"Commander! The Don River defense line can no longer withstand it, and our army is still holding on to its position. However, the Russian troops on both wings have begun to retreat due to heavy casualties."

Stewie walked in furiously, holding the telegram.

Another bad news!

This cannot be blamed on the Russians. All the troops that can fight are defending Moscow. The troops deployed on the Don River are all third-rate troops that cannot even be considered second-line troops.

The Ming Dynasty's second-rate troops also had demobilized veterans and military academy students as the backbone, but the Russians' third-rate troops were.

Even worse than Ming Dynasty’s militia!

Their equipment even includes one light machine gun per company and several mortars per regiment!

It is simply impossible for this kind of equipment to compete with Napoleon's elite.

But no matter what, Li Xiao never expected that these people wouldn't be able to hold on for even a day.

"Immediately order our troops to retreat, blow up and burn all baggage and heavy firearms.

As long as people come back with light weapons!

Send all airships to transport frontline troops to Tsaritsyn.

We have to stop the French at Tsaritsyn!"

Li Xiao poked his finger on a key point on the map - Tsaritsin.

In later generations, this place had a more famous name, Stalingrad!

"No, Commander, if we retreat like this, the French will advance without any hindrance!

It also takes time for us to set up defenses in Tsaritsyn."

Shi Dewei looked at Li Xiao anxiously. He was afraid that the commander would be thrown into disarray by this sudden attack.

"Let the Mongols advance, and we must try to delay the enemy's attack as much as possible.

No matter what the cost!" Li Xiao gave the order to Shi Dewei without thinking.

This is in line with Li Xiao's character. He will not let the Liao army fight this kind of battle, which is almost a death battle.

In Li Xiao's words, if you want to achieve the same status as the Ming Dynasty people, how can you do it without paying for it with blood?

Only those who have shed blood for the Ming Dynasty are qualified to be called people of the Ming Dynasty.

During this time of conscription, the Ming Dynasty recruited three divisions and a team of more than 38,000 people in Mongolia.

The reason why they were mobilized in Mongolia was because these three divisions were all cavalry.

There is no way, except for Tsaritsyn, there are no railways in other places.

If you want your troops to mobilize quickly, you need cavalry.

However, these cavalrymen also dismounted when fighting. War horses are now just a means of transportation.

These cavalrymen had just arrived in Tsaritsyn and were still in the rest and recuperation stage.

"Commander, should you equip the Mongols with heavy firepower? We still have some tractors on the front line. It is a pity that these guys were bombed like this."

Stewie knew that artillery was needed for offensive operations, and artillery was also needed for defensive operations.

These Mongols are cavalry, and their heavy firepower is mortars.

The French's artillery fire was very fierce, which can be said to have captured the essence of the Ming Dynasty.

The Mongols did not have heavy firepower, so it was too difficult to delay the French attack.

"Okay! We can bring the artillery back to support the Mongols.

However, once these weapons are likely to fall into the hands of the French, they must be blown up first.

We must not let our weapons fall into the hands of the French.

Now everyone's technical conditions are similar. As long as they have samples, they can quickly produce the same thing.

There are not many things that Ming Dynasty is leading, so we must control our technology so that it does not flow into the hands of others."

"promise!"

Stewie agreed happily and immediately ran back to issue the order.

The French attack disrupted the Ming Dynasty's planned deployment.

Lines of reinforcements originally intended to support Moscow were pulled directly to Tsaritsyn!

Mountains of supplies were also hauled to Tsaritsyn.

Even Akhtubinsk, two hundred kilometers behind Tsaritsyn, started building an airstrip.

The Liao troops sent to Russia were all soldiers recruited from Liaodong and Hebei and Shandong.

Li Xiao can be considered a hemorrhage. This team is equipped with many veterans who have been recalled, as well as students who have graduated from the military academy and are about to graduate.

Soldiers from these three places are used because the winters in these three places are very cold. Especially Liaodong, the climate is very close to Russia.

Even Shandong soldiers can adapt to the climate of Stalingrad. Because in terms of latitude, Stalingrad is almost at the same latitude as Jinan.

These places are the traditional sources of troops for the Liao army.

There is already a strong martial atmosphere, and the militia training is also the best in the area.

And these soldiers have been in the army for more than half a year, and they have almost done what they need to train.

In terms of combat effectiveness, they are much stronger than those southern soldiers sent to the Middle East.

For two whole days, Li Xiao stayed inside the General Staff Headquarters with red eyes.

When I feel sleepy, I just sit on the sofa in the office and squint for a while.

The Liao army won many battles, but did not have much experience in losing them.

Retreating is a very sophisticated thing. Who goes first and who goes last requires extremely high levels of scheduling and commanding abilities.

Once the retreat loses order, it is a rout.

And once the army retreats, there will be no big difference in the lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

Li Xiao didn't want his army to be massacred, so he ordered the heavy equipment to be blown up and the people to be brought back by airship.

For Li Xiao, talent is the most important thing.

Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty only deployed two divisions with more than 20,000 people on the Don River.

Moreover, these two divisions were temporarily formed and were not fully equipped with heavy weapons.

There are quite a few tractors, because the road conditions are not good. To haul luggage, we can only rely on this kind of tracked vehicle.

The crushing of tracked vehicles has made the road more severely damaged.

Under the vicious cycle, trucks can hardly move here.

It was under this order that Liu Wenxiu handed over the artillery battery, and all the remaining people boarded the airship and flew to Tsaritsyn.

His superiors had told him how much he had lost this time and that he would make up for it in Tsaritsyn.

Liu Wenxiu was the last one to board the airship. Amidst the rumbling noise, he looked at the ground through the portholes. Russian soldiers were everywhere scurrying around like headless flies.

They do not have the treatment of Ming soldiers and have airships to ride on. For them, they can only rely on their own legs to escape.
Chapter completed!