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A former cavalry guard of the Life Guards from St. Petersburg survives as a Cossack centurion, and hurries to the location of the Russian troops near the Russian-Turkish border, driving his favorite horse.
A column of Russian troops sets out on a campaign. Khvoshchinsky stops at a roadside cross: here the Russian land ends, ahead is the Turetchina. But half a century ago, in 1829, these stones and rocks were ours. Just like the Bayazet fortress itself, the goal of the current campaign.
Bayazet is surrounded by an invisible wall of hostility and treachery. At night the sentry disappears. In the morning, a bag containing the severed heads of soldiers is found on the road near the fortress. The murderer, spewing curses, is strung up in the fortress to the beat of drums...
Karabanov goes on a desperate spree, drinking and rowdying in the city dukhan. Exhausted, he falls asleep to the seductive dance of an oriental beauty. Only animal instinct and instant reaction allow him to avoid death from the dagger of the treacherous Turk. Having come to his senses, he frantically beats all the arriving enemies - another, a third...
The police who escaped from the battlefield return to the fortress, and then the Cossack hundred that escaped from encirclement. Now even Patsevich cannot ignore the fact that the headquarters generals did not want to notice for so long: not far from Bayazet, in the vicinity of Van, up to three thousand well-armed Turks have accumulated. To share his difficult share with her husband, Olga Khvoshchinskaya comes to the fortress. Not wanting to sit idly by, Olga begins working as a nurse in the infirmary. And fate seems to protect her from meeting Andrei: immediately upon returning from the battlefield, Karabanov is sent to Igdir to receive monetary allowances for the garrison.
The Turks steal the only sheep herd from Bayazet, thus completely depriving the fortress of meat supplies. And this is happening only because, on the orders of Patsevich, soldiers were removed from the Zangezur Heights, and patrols on the roads were canceled. Upon inspection, it turns out that the remaining food supplies are negligible. Then Patsevich instructs Karabanov to deal with the supply of provisions. As a result, a shortage of products and their extremely low quality are discovered. Wanting, literally, to shake the truth out of the sutler Aga-Mamukov, Karabanov hangs him up by his feet...
The Bayazetites begin to “lose their nerves”... Karabanov mercilessly beats his orderly, who encroached on government property, after which he himself receives a slap in the face from the angry Olga. The officers' meeting discusses possible solutions to the current situation. Khvoschinsky is against conducting extensive reconnaissance. He believes that it is enough to conduct a raid and, having illuminated the valley, find out everything necessary about the enemy. Patsevich, referring to the “heroism of the Russian soldier”, which is mentioned in the book of General Bezak, gives the order for an immediate reconnaissance.
The withdrawal of Russian troops to Bayazet is complicated by the appearance of new detachments of Faik Pasha.
The Turks, who have been besieging the fortress for several days, decide to send the first deputation to Bayazet. Former sutler Aga-Mamukov conveys to the Russians an offer to lay down arms, but he is driven away in disgrace. Patsevich, without raising his eyes to the officers, asks to think again about the enemy’s proposal, but contemptuous grins silence him.
Bayazet is in fire and smoke. The distraught Patsevich secretly negotiates with the spy to surrender their weapons and the Russians to leave the fortress, but the general will of the soldiers and officers overpowers the authority of the commander. His orders are no longer carried out.
The garrison's forces are running out. The last hope is for the approach of the army of General Ter-Gukasov. But there, apparently, they do not imagine the true position of Bayazet. Then the officers decide to send a messenger to Ter-Gukasov.
Faik-pasha, who had long avoided a large-scale assault on the fortress, finally made up his mind: the Turks had a long-range Krupp cannon of great destructive power. One of its first salvoes seriously wounded the best gunner of the garrison, Kiryukha Postny.
