The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 414: The Shadow of Liu Shijiu
At noon the next day, the sun was scorching.

The dirt road between Balizhuang and Jiantou on the west bank of the Juma River winds its way through the desolate, low and gentle hills and mountains. The overgrown weeds and trees on the hills and on both sides of the road appear and disappear, stretching into the distance.

On both sides of the road, wormwood about a foot high swayed in the autumn wind.

Except for the faint sound of gunfire coming from the distance in the north, the mountain road was as quiet and peaceful as usual.

Four hundred meters away from the west side of the mountain road, behind two low hills, in a narrow ravine more than half a person's depth, covered by wild grass and formed by the impact of rain, the soldiers of the assault column sat quietly inside.

Without exception, the officers and soldiers of the assault column all wore wreaths made of wild grass on their heads. Liu Shijiu and Wu Peifu were sitting among them wearing the same wreaths.

The officers and soldiers of the Big Sword Team not only wore messy grass circles on their heads but also had wormwood stuck on their bodies. Some of them even wore cloaks made of wormwood.

At this moment, Zhu Kaishan, who was standing aside, was leaning on his sharp sword. He would anxiously stand up from the ravine from time to time, stretching his neck to look at the open space between the two hills in front, and occasionally listen carefully to the sound of gunfire that was gradually moving closer here.

From here, you can see the winding mountain road more than 400 meters away. The yellow dirt road is very conspicuous under the strong autumn sunlight.

Liu Shijiu, who was sitting against the wall of the ditch, couldn't help but pat Zhu Kaishan on the back. When Zhu Kaishan turned around, he said with a smile.

"Brother, please stop looking at me. You keep moving around, and I'm losing my temper."

Zhu Kaishan smiled a little embarrassedly and said, "Brother, why do you think the Marshal is so sure that the foreign devils will send people to investigate on these low hills along the way?"

Then, Zhu Kaishan said unwillingly, "If we had ambushed them on the hill earlier, we wouldn't have to go through so much trouble hiding here."

"After the fight begins, we will rush down the hill and into the foreign devils' ranks in a flash. The foreign devils will be unable to stop us."

Liu Shijiu spat out the half-bitten straw stick in his mouth and said, "Brother, you have been with the Marshal for too short a time. I tell you, the Marshal always has a plan for everything. He said that the foreign devils will send people to scout and pursue along the way, and that will be the case. I guarantee it will not be wrong."

Wu Peifu, who was standing by, also said with a smile, "Captain Zhu, according to the information sent back by Commander Hu, the Russians should be the ones chasing them in the lead today."

"As for the foreigners, both the Russians and the Japanese have a large number of cavalry. The hills in this area are too low, so it doesn't take any effort to ride up on horseback. If the foreigners are not stupid, they will definitely ride up and check around. This will not delay their pursuit."

Liu Nineteen nodded and said, "Zi Yu is right. The Marshal led us to fight off so many ambushes by the foreign devils. It would be strange if the foreign devils didn't learn their lesson."

"Captain, the 3rd Mixed Brigade has withdrawn."

A staff officer who was in charge of observing the situation said excitedly.

Looking at the staff officer who looked eager to give a test, Wu Peifu couldn't help but smile and thought to himself.

"Teacher is right. Every troop has the shadow of its original commander, forming a unique spirit of this commander."

Just like the staff officer in front of him, Wu Peifu recognized this staff officer and he had also worked in the General Staff Office. He used to be a very calm person, but after following Liu Shijiu for only a short time, his behavior and style became like that of Liu Shijiu, the column leader, impetuous, impetuous and casual.

And what style will the troops I will command in the future have?
What kind of style of army do you want to build?
Although he thought so in his mind, Wu Peifu still took off the telescope from his neck, and followed Liu Shijiu to stand up in the ditch, raised the telescope, and looked at the winding mountain road in the distance through the gaps in the withered and yellow wormwood about a foot high on the edge of the ditch.

In the field of view of the telescope, there really appeared a team of vanguard officers and soldiers hurrying on their way.

Although the distance was too far to clearly see the numbers on their left armbands, the vanguard troops coming from the north could only be from the 3rd Mixed Brigade. In particular, there were many stretchers and even door panels in the team, and there were wounded on these stretchers and door panels.

It was obvious that this must be an urgent matter and there was no time to make stretchers, so the people from the 3rd Mixed Brigade had to use door panels to carry the wounded.

Although these people were in a hurry, many of them had unsteady steps and walked unsteadily.

Liu Shijiu on the side said after he let out a long breath.

"Zi Yu, the Third Mixed Corps is having a hard time!"

Wu Peifu also sighed and said, "Yes! I heard from the staff that by yesterday, the number of wounded they had transported down was more than 3,000, and the number of casualties was naturally not small."

"And, I guess they have no time to sleep these days. They are either marching or fighting with the foreign devils who are chasing them. Then they have to retreat continuously, otherwise they will be surrounded by the foreign devils."

"The staff told me that because the artillery slowed down the march, they even blew up the artillery. How could it not be hard?"

Not only did Wu Peifu initially spend some time in the General Staff Office, but he also had been with Teng Yuzhao before he joined the Imperial Guard Association. Therefore, he was very familiar with the staff officers in the General Staff Office and was naturally more informed.

"The cannons are all exploding!"

Wu Peifu's words surprised Liu Shijiu a lot.

Liu Shijiu sighed again with a toothache and said, "Let's blow it up. Without the cannons, we can just steal them from the foreign devils."

Liu Shijiu turned to look at Wu Peifu, "Zi Yu, do you think your teacher will return our artillery battalion to us in the future?"

Liu Jiujiu's words made Wu Peifu laugh. He knew that Liu Jiujiu was worried about his cannons. He was afraid that these cannons would be taken away and then gone.

Seeing Liu Shijiu glaring at him, Wu Peifu hurriedly smiled and spoke.

"Uncle Master, don't worry. The teacher attaches great importance to artillery firepower. He will definitely not fail to equip us with cannons."

"Besides, I guess the teacher will give us some of the cannons and mortars as well."

"real!"

When Liu Shijiu heard Wu Peifu say that they would be given some mortars, his eyes lit up with excitement.

"That kind of small cannon is a good thing. You can carry it around and shoot wherever you go. After shooting, you can run away. It's not easy for the foreign devils to guard against our small cannon."

Wu Peifu also agreed and said, "This mortar is indeed a good thing. Now the Marshal is buying gun barrels from foreigners through Zhang Zhidong in Huguang. I guess we will have them soon."

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(End of this chapter)