On the 16th, the Ming army arrived eighty miles southwest of Irkutsk, which was already at the forefront of Irkutsk.

Irkutsk is the capital of the Russian Far East Governor's Office. Compared with Ulan-Ude, Irkutsk City is larger and stronger.

Irkutsk is built in the southwest of the Angara River. Angara River is a large river from the east to the west of Lake Baikal, passing from the northwest of Irkutsk, and forming tributaries in the northeast, west and southeast of Irkutsk.

From this point of view, Irkutsk is surrounded by water on three sides and has a very good terrain. In addition to land in the southeast, it is necessary to attack Irkutsk by boat and attack Irkutsk through the Angara River.

The latter is impossible. Although the Ming navy is strong, the Ming navy cannot run from the ocean to the distant Siberia. Moreover, the Ming army has no available ships after taking Ulan-Ude. In addition, Irkutsk has built a large number of forts along the Angara River. No matter how many of these ships the Ming army has, they are no match for the forts. Attacking Irkutsk from the river is simply a daydream.

Therefore, compared with Ulan-Ude, the terrain of Irkutsk is easier to defend and difficult to attack. The Ming army can only attack from the southwest direction to the northeast, which is the only offensive path.

But in this direction, that is, in the southwest of Irkutsk, Russia also built a fortress called Serekhov. Like Irkutsk, this fortress is surrounded by tributaries of the Angara River in the east and northwest directions, and can only attack in the southwest direction.

When the Ming army arrived eighty miles southwest of Irkutsk, that is, close to the Fortress of Sherekhov, Yang Xu truly understood why the Russians did not send troops to attack him along the way. He had to admit that Russia's defense in this place was much stronger than that of Ulan-Ude. They occupied a perfect terrain, not only with solid fortresses and cities, but also with the Angara River, the Fortress of Sherekhov could not be surrounded by the enemy at all. The Russians could completely reinforce and mobilize Serekhov through tributaries of the Angara River.

Although Yang Xu had interrogated these defenders after capturing Ulan-Ude's defenders and collected a lot of Russian intelligence, when he observed on the spot, he found that he had despised Russia's defense in Irkutsk before.

Looking at the Sherekhov Fortress, which was waiting for battle and the complex terrain around, Yang Xu couldn't help but frown.

To fight Irkutsk, you must first take down Sherekhov. This is the problem before us, but it is not that easy to take down Sherekhov, but no matter what, this battle must be fought.

Stopped, Yang Xu summoned a meeting of generals to discuss how to fight this battle. At the meeting, Yang Xu not only reiterated the importance of this battle, but also allowed everyone to see his determination.

Of course, fighting is not just about courage and determination. Yang Xu is a qualified commander. If he only relies on his life to build this battle, he would never fight.

In addition to attack, Yang Xu also had to guard against the Russians in Irkutsk attacking the Ming army's retreat through Lake Baikal. Although the Russians did not do this during the march, who can guarantee that once the Serekhov Fortress War begins, the Russians hiding behind will not take this opportunity to enter Lake Baikal from the Angara River to the east, and then turn back to the southwest to directly cut off the Ming army's retreat?

This possibility is extremely great. If the Russian commander was Yang Xu, he would definitely do this. As an excellent military commander, he must attach great importance to the enemy. Once he is despised or is too arrogant, he will not be far from defeat.

The Battle of the Fortress of Sherekhov started the next day. When the sky was dawn, the hot air balloons of the Ming army rose. When the huge hot air balloons rose southwest of Serekhov, the entire Sherekhov defenders were panicked for a moment. Just like when they were in Ulan-Ude, many Russian soldiers were extremely frightened at the hot air balloons. Many people even knelt down, constantly scribing crosses on their chests, shouting the names of God and the Lord.

If the Ming army's hot air balloon could move freely and float directly over the Sherekhov Fortress and drop a few bombs, perhaps the defenders of Sherekhov Fortress collapsed directly and the fortress would be easily taken down by the Ming army.

But unfortunately, the current hot air balloons cannot do this. Now the role of hot air balloons on the battlefield is only observation and cannot be directly used for war offense or defense. But even so, the appearance of hot air balloons has brought a certain degree of panic to the Russians.

Taking advantage of the Russians' panic, the Ming army launched an attack on the Sherekhov Fortress in time. The Ming army not only invested dozens of artillery pieces, but also invested a full battalion of troops in the first attack, intending to see the defense strength of the Sherekhov Fortress and try to win the fortress in one fell swoop.

After a brief panic, the Russian defenders regained their rationality under the command of officers, and by this time the Ming army had already begun a formal attack.

One side attacks, the other side defends, the Ming army attacks with artillery fire, the soldiers bravely strive for the first place, and the Russian soldiers defending are also elite. They are also very clear about what the result will be if they are attacked by the Ming army into the fortress. In addition, with the loss of Ulan-Ude, Irkutsk is now the largest and most solid city in Russia's Far East Governor's Office. The Far East Governor's Office is in Irkutsk, and the Governor's Excellency General Berekov is right behind them. Sherekhov Fortress must not be lost.

The entire battle entered a state of intense heat from the beginning. Under the fierce attack of the Ming army, Serekhov's defenders resisted tenaciously, and the two sides fought extremely fiercely.

At noon, the Ming army had to take advantage of it, but on the contrary it suffered a lot of losses. As for Russia, there were naturally losses, but the losses were much smaller than the Ming army.

In addition, Serekhov and Irkutsk in the rear were almost one, and Russia could completely carry out reinforcements and material transportation through tributary rivers, which also led to the Ming army's offensive not being able to do much effect.

Since the war started, Yang Xu has closely watched the progress of the battle. Because he has a hot air balloon, Serekhov's every move is under Yang Xu's nose. Seeing that the temptation is almost over, Yang Xu ordered the attacking troops to withdraw and repair, and send another troops to attack.

But compared to the first unit, the attack of the other unit is much more flexible, and he did not want to take the fortress in one breath at the beginning, just to try his best to kill the opponent and destroy the opponent's will.

The battle continued until evening, and as the sun set, the first day of war finally ended.
Chapter completed!