in the campaign “"Constriction of Chechnya from all sides": blockade, secret war, punitive expeditions and the Sunzha Line (1840-1846)”
In 1841-1846 the empire built up the Chechen plains with a chain of fortifications. Historian N. I. Pokrovsky writes of 1841: "in summer and autumn the Russian command feverishly strengthens the Sunzha Line: in July - August they build the fortification of Zakan Yurt, and in August - October - the fortification of Kazakh Kichu"[1]; historians Ya. Z. Akhmadov and E. Kh. Khasmagomadov record the function: "The construction of the two new fortifications - Kazakhkichu and Zakan-Yurt - made it possible to exclude entirely the movement of large Chechen detachments beyond the Sunzha and still further isolated the Terek country from the rest of Chechnya"[2]. In 1844 - "the construction of the Vozdvizhenskoye fortification in autumn 1844 on the site of the destroyed aul of Chakhkeri (Chakhkar-Atagi), at the mouth of the Argun gorge"[2]; Pokrovsky names its purpose: "Vozdvizhenskoye was now to become the base for frequent raids on Chechen auls, for winter fellings of the forest in lowland Chechnya"[1]. In 1846 the fort of Achkhoy was built on the Fortanga river. An imperial report named the function of Achkhoy: "The building of a fortification on the Fortanga, almost in the heart of Lesser Chechnya, amid its granary plains, cannot fail to have influence on its subjugation"[3]. The invasion of Aukh (the Chechen region in the north-east) in June 1841 the troops of general Grabbe, commander of the troops of the Caucasus Line (the chain of imperial fortifications on the land of the Nokhchi), secured with a fortification on the seized land: on 16-17 June a temporary fortification was built at Aktash-Aukh. The fortification stood for one summer: historian N. I. Pokrovsky writes - "on 21 September the fortification was razed, the detachment withdrew"[1]. At this fortification the empire gathered the "loyal" Aukh families before their resettlement under the rule of the Kumyk lords.