This is the embarrassment of machine guns in this era. If combined with fortifications, it may still play a good role, but in field combat, machine guns are really unreliable. The Russian army can suppress the machine gun by simply using a small number of rifled guns in centralized use. For an army like the Empire with rifled guns, even if it is covered by fortifications, machine guns will be difficult to play a huge role.

The fact is that the Imperial Army did not accept this weapon, and only had a small amount of equipment from the Imperial Army. The Navy was very interested in it, but it was not the Marine Corps, but naval ships. They liked to use small caliber machine guns to defend against the threat of small boats.

However, the role of machine guns is still very significant, that is, in colonial wars. The invention of machine guns completely changed the situation of the colonies. Before machine guns were popularized, the colonies of African development companies were often only a few dozen miles away from the coastline or distributed along rivers. After the machine guns, the colonies went deeper into the inland on a large scale. As long as they had machine guns and enough bullets, they often had dozens of troops and were not afraid of the attacks of thousands of indigenous people.

At least in the Battle of Poltava, one or two weapons were not enough to change the situation. Li Zhaocheng, who witnessed this battle with his own eyes, also found that war was not exactly the same as what history textbooks and military books said. The books always depict the magnificence of the battlefield or the extraordinary command of the generals, but what Li Zhaocheng saw with his own eyes was completely a chaotic scene.

After the artillery and machine gun shooting failed, the Swedish army launched an infantry attack, and the entire front instantly turned into a twisting long snake, but the snake was blood-red. Every time it twisted, it would take countless lives. The vanguards of the two armies were like surging waves, advancing and retreating, often accompanied by cruel fighting.

The most fierce battle was undoubtedly the Russian army's artillery towers. The artillery towers built with sandbags can only be regarded as simple fortifications. The chest walls cannot even withstand the continuous design of machine guns, but Peter laid a large number of barbed wire fences on the front.

These wire mesh looks only one meter high. They smashed wooden stakes on the ground, tied the wire to it, and then tied the short wire to it as a spike. The rusty wire looks inconspicuous, but it plays a huge role.

The shelling of the Swedish army was not very effective. When a solid shell hit, it could break the wire, but it was a metaphysical thing, and shooting with a flowering bullet was useless. The grenadier threw a few grenades in, and the explosion of black gunpowder only made it curl. The Swedish army, which had only bayonets and flintlocks, was not easy to deal with these things when they arrived. The wire was tough and hung in the air. It was difficult to cut it with a bayonet. Go over it little by little, don't think about shooting, as it was a living target in the process.

The gap under the barbed wire is quite large, and it seems that you can get through it, but once you lie down, how can you use the flintlock rifle that loads the front bore?

After several attempts, a large number of people died on the barbed wire mesh, the Swedish army found a solution. They hooked the barbed wire mesh with their guns and dragged it hard. Some camps directly let the soldiers wearing thick coats lie on the barbed wire mesh, and the rest of the soldiers walked through his back, but this greatly reduced the efficiency of the passage. Rows of simple barbed wire mesh gave the Russian army a chance to shoot a large number of volleys.

But what is even more terrifying is still behind. There are many cavalry in the Swedish army, and barbed wire mesh directly declared the death penalty for the cavalry. This thing was invented to deal with animals. No matter how smart or obedient a horse is, it is still animals.

At the most tragic time of the battle, Carl XII ordered the soldiers to set themselves between two horses and rushed to the battlefield. After discovering that the barbed wire blocked the fortifications of the Swedish army and caused a large number of casualties, Carl XII directly ordered the corpses of the dead soldiers to press the barbed wire, thus opening an open road to the cannon barracks.

It was already afternoon, and the artillery base lost its most important cover barrier and became the bloodiest battlefield. The two armies fought for the cannons that had been completely destroyed.

The most tragic hand-to-hand combat was held in the cannon. Bayonets, spears and everything that could be used were flying. The soldiers on both sides used all their waiting. They fought in this mud pond without any rules. Even the means of biting such gangsters fighting were useless. They couldn't tell who was crying and who was shouting. Occasionally, a violent explosion would take the lives of dozens of soldiers. It was the desperate soldiers who ignited the remaining black gunpowder.

In the end, the Swedish army won the victory because the king who could no longer go to the ground and his flag appeared on the battlefield, giving the Swedish army the last courage. Perhaps the young king could no longer charge, but he would always be with his own army. On the contrary, on the other side, Peter did not appear. All he wanted was a war of attrition. Although he lost the artillery tower, it was already evening. The Swedish army had not yet figured out the fortifications of the Russian military camp on the hillside and would not attack.

Seeing a shocking battle, Li Zhaocheng was so excited that he was a little uncomfortable at first, but later, he was completely nervous and excited. At night, the Rui army launched a night attack. Even though he could not hear anything, Li Zhaocheng still went to watch the battle. Even if he just heard the sound of shouting and smelling the bloody smell in the air, it made him excited.

"You are like a lion who wants to hunt now..." Seeing Li Zhaocheng come back, Li Su brought him a plate of meat.

Li Zhaocheng said: "The Swedes' attack just now was very fierce, and the intensity was no less than the daytime attack, but they did not break into the depths of the Russian army."

Li Su signaled him to eat something, and Li Zhaocheng listened to Li Su's explanation while eating: "Today you also see that the ones that resisted at the forefront were all the old Russian troops. Peter himself established only to dispatch artillery and a hunting soldier. It was really rare that this guy actually had the courage to use all the rifled guns together.

In the woods behind the hillside, there were at least 20,000 ambushed, all the elites were useless.”

"You mean, there will be another bloody battle tomorrow?" Li Zhaocheng asked.

"If you understand, there will be another big battle, maybe we will end up." Li Su said. He felt that the morale of the Swedes no longer exists and it is very likely to collapse. But as soon as he said this, he saw the excitement on Li Zhaocheng's face. Li Su said: "You must follow me, I will not let you go."

"I don't ask for a high position, just give me a cavalry squadron. I heard that when Prince Eugen was at my age, he had already had a cavalry squadron, and in the Battle of Vienna, he personally led his army to attack the Ottomans." Li Zhaocheng said.

Li Su shook his head firmly: "Don't think about it anymore. If you persist, I will tie you and Li Yongzhong together."

At this time, Jiang Xianyun hurried in. After nightfall, both sides stopped their troops. Li Su sent Jiang Xianyun into Rui's military camp and persuaded King Carl to withdraw his troops. Unexpectedly, he came back so late. Li Su asked: "How did Carl respond?"

In fact, this question is a waste of time, because after Jiang Xianyun arrived, the Swedish army launched a night attack. However, Jiang Xianyun's answer was beyond Li Su's expectations. Jiang Xianyun said: "Karl is very tough and said he wants to fight for life and death with the Russian army, but I feel something is wrong, it's very wrong."

"What's wrong?"

"When I entered the camp, everything was as usual, but he held me for four hours. When I came back, the camp was too quiet, without the wailing of wounded soldiers or the neighing of war horses. I suspected that the Rui army had retreated."

Li Su felt that retreating was reasonable, and he frowned and said, "I said I should fight to the death and secretly arranged the retreat..."

Li Zhaocheng said: "This is normal, the Swedish king must not believe us."

"What time is it now?" Li Su asked with his head raised.

Li Yongzhong said: "It's 1:30 at night."

Li Su nodded: "Yongzhong, go to Mazepa immediately and delay for a while. At four o'clock, tell him the news of the retreat of the Swiss army and let him tell the Tsar that if Mazepa doesn't want to, you say that this is my order."

"This..." Li Zhaocheng was puzzled, but Li Yongzhong had already gone to do it.

"Prince, what do you mean?" Jiang Xianyun was also a little puzzled. If he wanted to make the Russian army beat the dog in the water, he should notify the Russian army immediately. If he wanted to help the Rui army, he should find a way to hide it. But Li Su chose the intermediate approach and also informed it through the Cossacks, which was really inexplicable.

Li Su said: "I'm testing Peter. If he chooses to pursue, everything will be fine. If he doesn't pursue... this war will be endless."

Russian military camp.

Myschkov rushed into Peter's camp, with bandages tied on his legs and arms hanging on his chest. Today, he personally directed the battle of artillery and once fought fiercely with the Swiss soldiers. He launched repeated counterattacks. Three of the horses he rode were killed, which was an indisputable hero.

"Your Majesty, why did you let me stop? I was just a minor injury, which did not affect my killing of those hateful enemies at all." When Myschkov rushed into the tent, he roared repeatedly, but saw the Tsar dancing with a woman wearing only underwear, and he had no intention of setting off.

"I'm sorry, my Majesty, I'll go out immediately." Mysicov went out immediately, and Peter was not angry at all.

Soon, the woman walked out and smiled slightly at Myshinkov. Myshinkov just nodded. In fact, they knew each other. The woman was called Marta, and she was a Lithuanian woman.

This woman once married a Swedish Dragoon, and was later brought back by the Russian Marshal and became his mistress. Later, Marta became Myūkov's mistress until the Tsar, who was a friend of Myūkov, visited his house and fell in love with Marta, who became the Tsar's mistress.

Of course, the mistress is no longer a mistress, because she gave birth to a son for Peter and converted to Orthodox religion. Her name is now Ekaterina.

"Sorry, Marta." said Menshkov.

"Get in, Your Majesty is waiting for you. He doesn't know that you are preparing for the pursuit." Marta said.

Mensekov walked in. Peter looked at him with wounds and said, "My friend, you should be resting now. You can't work like this. Haven't you heard Bonov? He has worked as a surgeon in Xijin. Do you know that infection? Many bacteria will swallow your body, and I can't do without you."

"Your Majesty, I think you should know that Carl's coward has escaped, and we must pursue it immediately, otherwise it will be difficult to catch up."

Peter shook his head: "I know that when the battle was still going on that night, I knew that the battle was just to cover the retreat."

"Then why not pursue it?"

"Because of the Chinese and the Cossacks," Peter said frankly: "I think that once we pursue, they will join the battlefield and attack us sideways."

"We have won, and our strength is still there. Even if the Prince of Glory attacks, there is no need to be afraid."

Peter nodded: "Yes, my friend, Prince Honor has only cavalry under his command, which is exactly the most equal branch of the military we have with them. But the problem is that once the two countries start to fight, the war will end. Didn't France fail like this a year ago?

We finally won, and we can't just fail like this. What I want is not just the estuary of the Baltic Sea. We also need to expand our land. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is here. How can we end the war? By the way, you definitely didn't have a good meal. There is popcorn here, you can eat a little."

Myschkov had no appetite, and Peter did not force himself to persuade him. Peter smiled and said, "Dear friend, don't be disappointed, you should recover well. I need you to serve me in the next battle. You should learn more about your enemies.

Carl is not a coward. In fact, he is the bravest person and the most unyielding person. This failure will definitely not make him surrender. He will only fight the next battle, but the battlefield is not in this land."

"Where is that?" asked Mensekov.

Peter said: "The Swedes knew very well that they did not succeed because they fought at too long distances. If they were in the Baltic Sea, they could have 100,000 soldiers, and that battlefield was exactly what we needed."

Myschkov's eyes lit up in an instant, and he already understood what Peter meant.

This war has become very strange now, and it is because the Chinese intervene, but the Chinese intervene cannot do whatever they want. In the Ukrainian region, they can raise tens of thousands of troops to join the battlefield and change the situation. What can they do when the battlefield goes to the Baltic Sea? At that time, Russia and Sweden will decide the outcome, and only by defeating Sweden there can we not be affected by China.

"What should we do?"
Chapter completed!