The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 417: Prelude to Ambush
Then, Liu Shijiu would hand over all the captured cannons as quickly as possible to the artillery brigade right behind them, which had already deployed all the cannons.

Some of these cannons that have just been captured will also be used on the spot by Liu Changfa.

Liu Changfa had even repaired several artillery positions in advance, and a temporary artillery battalion was waiting eagerly on these still empty positions. As soon as the cannons snatched back by Liu Shijiu arrived, they would be pushed onto the positions and begin shelling the foreign devils' follow-up troops.

The great news that Liu Changfa brought back about the expansion of the Artillery Brigade into a town greatly inspired all the officers and soldiers of the Artillery Brigade. They were all geared up and waiting to show their skills in the upcoming war.

Some large-caliber artillery pieces cannot be used in the short term due to unclear specific parameters, but the artillery corps' gunners are very familiar with the coalition's 75mm and 87mm field artillery pieces, and they can be used directly without test firing.

With the addition of these cannons, they can better exert the power of their artillery and maximize the intensity of their artillery bombardment on the coalition forces.

Li Xianze's Second Mixed Brigade was still lying in ambush near the mountain road further north.

The mission of the Second Mixed Brigade was not only to block the Japanese army's retreat from the rear, but also to use firepower from both sides to compress the Allied forces on the mountain road by relying on the occupied hills and heights.

The hills on both sides of the mountain road in front of the assault column and the guards were defended by the assault column and the guards after their success.

Similarly, the Japanese and Russian troops that came from the front and rear to rescue the artillery units had to be compressed near the mountain road so that the artillery units could launch fierce bombardment on the coalition forces.

Wu Peifu and Liu Jiujiu led their troops to run for a while. When they arrived at the hill in front, Liu Jiujiu was fine, but Wu Peifu was already exhausted and out of breath.

Most of the officers and soldiers of the assault column did not go up the hills near the mountain road because these hills were not big. If too many people went up, not only would they not be able to maneuver, they might even be discovered by the artillery units of the Japanese and Russian armies that were about to arrive.

Therefore, only a small number of troops went up the hill. Depending on the size of the hill, the big ones had about a sentry of people, and the small ones had only a platoon.

However, all the heavy machine guns were carried to the hills, and the sharpshooters were also assigned to various hills.

The heavy machine guns of the assault column have been strengthened. The source is what Wu Peifu seized on the west bank of the Juma River. Now both the assault column and the Guards Association have more than 40 heavy machine guns, which is enough to ensure that there are heavy machine guns defending every hill they occupy.

The heavy machine guns are too big to be deployed yet. Like the soldiers, they are hidden behind the ridge of the hill. They will be carried to the hill by the soldiers after the battle begins, ready to open fire and fight back against the coalition forces that are coming to support them.

But the sharpshooters were different. Not only had they all climbed to the top of the hill, but they had also found the best shooting positions and hid in the bushes.

Although the sharpshooters of the vanguard army rarely have marksmanship that matches their title, their marksmanship is generally good, and there are many of them. In battle, there will often be several people aiming at a target at the same time, which will improve the shooting accuracy.

Moreover, since these people were repeatedly indoctrinated with the idea of ​​shooting the foreign officers and heavy machine gunners in a timely manner, they have gradually developed a keen sense of important targets. In the battle, under the concentrated fire of numerous rifles, the lives of the coalition officers and heavy machine gunners were under the threat of their guns at all times.

Liu Shijiu and Wu Peifu ran to the top of the hill. They both looked towards the north end of the mountain road, which was the direction from which the Allied artillery units were coming.

After not seeing the coalition forces appear, some people could not wait to pick up their binoculars and start checking the hiding positions of the big knife team on the side of the mountain road.

Through their telescopes, the yellowed wormwood on the mountain road was still swaying in the wind, and a human-shaped wormwood bundle was seen moving rapidly along the mountain road, and no one else was seen. After careful identification through the telescope, they could barely distinguish that the human-shaped grass bundle was Zhu Kaishan wearing a camouflage net. They knew that Zhu Kaishan was checking the cover of the big knife team.

Probably because he didn't notice anything wrong, Zhu Kaishan quickly hid in the wormwood. When he moved his eyes a little, there was no trace of Zhu Kaishan anymore.

Liu Shijiu exclaimed in admiration, "Zi Yu, Xingfu's method of making a camouflage net is truly amazing! This is something that ordinary people can't come up with!"

Liu Shijiu's words made Wu Peifu feel deeply moved. His teacher's creative ideas were endless, and they were beyond the reach of ordinary people!

Could it be that the teacher is really not an ordinary person, but
As soon as this thought popped up in his mind, Wu Peifu couldn't help but feel inexplicably surprised!
Wu Peifu shook his head vigorously, trying to get rid of the absurd thoughts in his mind, and held up a telescope to check the situation on the hills across the mountain road.

Fortunately, Wu Peifu did not find anything unusual in the field of view of his telescope.

As Liu Shijiu's strong arm pulled my arm and I was forced to squat down and hide behind a rock, I heard Liu Shijiu's voice.

"Be careful, the foreigners are coming."

Fearing that the reflection from the telescope lens would attract the attention of the Allied Forces, Wu Peifu did not dare to use the telescope to observe. Instead, he used the cover of the grass to look towards the northern end of the mountain road in the distance.

Although it was impossible to see clearly whether the coalition forces had appeared due to the distance, the dust raised from the mountain road showed that the coalition artillery units had arrived.

As time went on, the coalition artillery units were getting closer.

It can be seen with the naked eye that the Japanese escort and protection brigade is divided into two parts, with only more than 200 people in the front and the main force of more than 800 people following at the back.

The position of the coalition artillery in the team can also be seen clearly. The coalition has thirty-eight large and small artillery pieces. In order to facilitate and speed the deployment, these artillery pieces are towed by horses.

In addition to these artillery pieces, there were hundreds of pack horses carrying boxes of artillery shells in the team.

These horses towing artillery and carrying boxes of ammunition included both tall and strong pack horses and Japanese ponies. From the horses, one could roughly tell which were the Japanese artillery and which were the Russian artillery.

The ponies towing the artillery required four or five ponies to tow one cannon, while the Russian artillery was basically pulled by one or two horses and was not slow at all.

Looking at the approaching artillery unit of the coalition forces, Liu Shijiu frowned and asked Wu Peifu in a low voice...

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(End of this chapter)