After the arrival of reinforcements from two divisions and one brigade of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, the number of troops in the Elazade area was as high as 70,000. The Russian army first fought hard in the city, and then was attacked by the mixed brigade and the Jewish division, with heavy casualties and less than 4 divisions. This created a good situation for Sino-Turkey to jointly encircle and annihilate the Russian army.

The grand duke of nun Laevich could only barely use the remaining troops at hand to build a line of defense, and at the same time ordered Sivas to immediately start a full retreat and quickly meet with Elazze.

After a brief rest, the Chinese Expeditionary Force launched a full-line attack on the Russian defense line under the command of Chen Yucheng. In three hours, the Russian right wing defense line was broken through. After the 67th Division broke through the defense line, it quickly interspersed and deviated from the Russian flanks to cooperate with frontal operations. The entire Russian defense line was in danger, and the entire Russian Caucasian Army was facing a catastrophe.

After the Chinese Expeditionary Force launched an attack, it immediately asked the Turkish army in the direction of Sivas to launch a counterattack. The Turkish army immediately launched a full-scale counterattack. The Russian army in the side of Sivas left some forces to block the Turkish army's counterattack, and the main force quickly returned to the direction of Elazze.

Although the Chinese Expeditionary Force had a fierce offensive and the Russian defense line in the direction of Elazze was also broken, the Russian army struggled for a whole day under the personal supervision of nun Laevich. The Russian army retreated while fighting, and effectively used Kasura and this natural barrier. After a day of persistence, they finally waited for the Sigas troops.

After the two Russian troops met, the strength of the two places was close to 200,000, but the Russian army was already frightened at this time. The Turkish army had already broken through the Russian defense line in the direction of Sivas and was coming towards Elazze. The Chinese expeditionary force was even more unstoppable. Grand Duke Laevich was forced to order a full retreat and retreat to the line of Erzurum to defend.

The Chinese army took advantage of the victory and surrounded and annihilated three Russian divisions on the way. The Russian army retreated 500 kilometers in a hurry and retreated to the Erzurum line before barely stabilizing its position.

Due to the heroic battle of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, the Russian military's combat plan to try to occupy Elazade and Sivas before the reinforcements of the Chinese Expeditionary Force were smashed, and the entire Near East battlefield was almost collapsed. The Russian army, when it once had an absolute advantage, ended up losing troops and losing generals. This was a result that the Russian base camp had never expected.

In this battle, the Russian army lost 150,000 people and all heavy artillery. The previous results were ruined. The Russian army was no longer able to launch a threatening attack in the Near East and could only enter passive defense. In this battle, the Turkish army was not resolute enough in the direction of Sigas, which caused the Chinese Expeditionary Force to defeat the Russian defense line. The Russian army arrived in time from Sigas, missing a great opportunity to encircle and annihilate the entire Caucasian army.

It was also through this battle that the command of the Chinese Army had a clear understanding that the combat effectiveness of the Turkish army was so low. The General Staff had incorrectly estimated the situation in the Near East and overestimated the failure of the Turkish army, which led to the entire expeditionary army being ordered in danger, and the 66th Division had to fight alone for three days.

After the war, the Command of the Three Army held an emergency meeting and made severe criticisms of the work mistakes of the intelligence department and the General Staff Department. Chief of the General Staff Li Xiucheng personally conducted a review of the work mistakes, and the intelligence department also reviewed the failure to discover the Russian army's combat intentions in time.

Yang Yi pointed out at the meeting, "Knowing yourself and your enemy, you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. This sentence has been said for two thousand years, and it is still constantly proving its correctness. The painful lesson of the 66th Division tells us. It is wrong to underestimate the opponent at any time. Don't think that our army has been doing well since joining the war and has severely damaged the Russian army in the Far East. Many people simply think that the Russian army is weak and has low combat effectiveness. In fact, although Russia is not an European power economically, it has never been a weak country militarily."

The meeting also made a resolution soon, and immediately increased troops to the Near East battlefield, completely defeated the Russian army in Turkey, and eliminated the threat from the Russian army in the Near East. Taking into account China's long-term interests in the future, the Commander-in-Chief was determined to enter Africa within the year and control the Suez Canal. China's general policy and strategy for participating in the war remained unchanged, that is, when Germany and other allies still had considerable strength, they would take advantage of the opportunity of the Allies being dragged down by the Allies and try to expand China's interests in other continents of the world.

On April 15, 1896, the 18th Army of the 17th Army, which reinforced the Near East battlefield, landed in Basra. In early May, 200,000 Chinese Expeditionary Forces completed the assembly on the Near East Erzurum line. On May 20, with the cooperation of the 5th 6th Army of Turkey, the battle to encircle and annihilate the Russian Caucasus Army began.

At the beginning of the battle, our 17th Army attacked the Erzulu Fortress. The Russian army defended the death with the dangerous terrain. In order to capture the Erzulu Fortress as soon as possible, the Expeditionary Force concentrated 300 heavy artillery and 500 field artillery of various types. More than 800 cannons bombarded the Erzulu Fortress and its twelve fortresses in the outer corridor. After 30 hours of fierce fighting day and night, the Erzulu Fortress was captured and 30,000 Russian troops were annihilated. Due to the lack of strong attack power in the army and insufficient reinforcements, the Russian army was forced to retreat to the Palandeken, Sabri, and Kaergapazal Mountains across the line, trying to use the natural barrier of the Armenian Plateau to block our attack.

How could our army, who had prepared, let go of the Russian army? On May 22, our army divided into two groups, and the middle lane was along Salkamersh and Karls advanced forward. On the 24th, our 7th Army and the 18th Army conquered Salkamersh. A division of the Russian army escaped and was unable to escape. On the 15th, our middle lane army became more and more brave, and surrounded and annihilated 8,000 Russian troops defended the enemy at Karls. On the southern lane, the First Mixed Brigade cooperated with most of the former Expeditionary Force to cross the Dale Mountain with light equipment. On the 26th, the Russian army suddenly appeared under the city of Yerevan. The Russian army caught off guard and Yerevan went down.

On the north road, the 5th and 6th Turkish Army approached Altwin. On May 26, the Turkish army launched a fierce attack on Altwin.

Because the Southern Army overcame the natural obstacles of Da'a Leshan and unexpectedly occupied Yerevan, the Russian main force in Jiumuri could be surrounded and annihilated at any time, the Russian army was forced to retreat again. Our army took advantage of the situation and advanced forward to Tbilisi. On May 30, our 150,000 troops besieged Tbilisi, and annexed Russian Caucasian Army was surrounded and annexed. At this point, the battle ended.

This large-scale offensive campaign launched by our army lasted 15 days, and a total of more than 130,000 Russian troops were wiped out, including 90,000 prisoners and 40,000 casualties. The Russian Caucasus Army suffered a devastating blow, and our army successfully advanced more than 600 kilometers. After this battle, the Russian army lost all territory in the Near East and could only rely on the Caucasus Mountains as a barrier to defend hard, and could no longer pose a threat to the Near East.

In June 1896, due to the brilliant victory of the Chinese army in the Near East, the Russian base camp was in complete panic. Once the defense line of the Caucasus Mountains was broken, the Chinese army would be flat plains, and the Russian army would no longer have any danger to defend. The Russian army was forced to transfer troops from the Western Front to defend the Caucasus. This caused great pressure to Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the German army was able to turn around and concentrate on dealing with Britain and France.

UK, Royal Navy Headquarters.

The Chinese Navy was in an uninhabited territory in the Gulf of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, and transported a large number of soldiers and materials into West Asia, and then led to the declining trend of the Allies in the Near East in one fell swoop, which indirectly led to the final failure of the British and French coalition forces in the Battle of Dardanelles. The British Royal Navy had to begin to pay attention to the Chinese Navy. The British Navy has always been known as the world's number one, and has always regarded suppressing the German Navy as its main task. Now the Chinese Navy is rampant in the seas controlled by the former British Navy, and directly affecting the end of the battle on land. At the request of the Prime Minister, the British Royal Navy began to formulate a combat plan against the Chinese Navy in Asia.

In early June, after the combat plan against the Chinese Navy was formulated by the Royal Navy, it was approved after being submitted to the Prime Minister and Queen for approval. The Royal Navy will form a huge special-mix fleet and march into the Asian sea.

In Beijing, Yang Yi rarely felt relaxed and went out casually for a while in Beijing. Zhao Zilong, Changshan, on the stage, killed seven in and seven out in the Cao army formation, which made Yang Yi think of his beloved son Shenyang far away.

Yang Yi saw the growth of Shenyang these days. The battlefield was the fastest place for soldiers to grow, and Shenyang was no exception. He boldly used troops in the Elazé counterattack. When the attack under Yerevan was blocked, he decisively used chemical mortars to tear open the Russian defense line. These series of methods made Yang Yi see a gradually mature Shenyang.

A plainclothes guard hurriedly walked to Yang Yi, and after whispering a few words in Yang Yi's ear, Yang Yi stood up, left the theater, and hurried back to the commander's building.

When he walked into the office, the Minister of the Navy Liu Yuan had been waiting there for a long time. When he saw Yang Yi coming back, he immediately stepped forward and said, "The British Navy has abnormal movements just now. The specific situation is still unclear."

The intelligence minister Zheng Guanying, who was waiting at the same time, also stood up and said: "My intelligence department has been destroyed in several secret intelligence stations in the UK. Intelligence officer No. 777 said in the last telegram that the Royal Navy will carry out a large-scale assembly in Egypt." Zheng Guanying looked at Yang Yi who was not speaking and continued.

"The German intelligence department sent a notice that the British Royal Navy severely damaged the Italian joint fleet in the waters near Sicily, Italy. The telegram said that the British attacked the Italian fleet."
Chapter completed!