The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 423 Isn’t this looking for death?
"Send another message to Li Jinyu, telling him to hold on to Laishui until the ambush here is over."

There is no need to say much about the defense of Lai Shui. Sending back three battalions is exactly what Wei Jinghai has always wanted to do. That is their retreat.

Wei Jinghai was not surprised by Teng Yuzao's words about Hu Dianjia. Although Hu Dianjia failed to complete the blocking mission and suffered heavy casualties, causing great losses to the Third Mixed Brigade, if this battle could wipe out these 50,000 foreign devils in one fell swoop, he could barely make up for his mistakes...

Moreover, Wei Jinghai believed that since Hu Dianjia was the banner of the officers and soldiers who came from the Wuwei Front Army, Teng Yuzhao would definitely not remove Hu Dianjia.

Since they won't retreat, we naturally need to try to comfort them.

What's more, encouraging and motivating his subordinates is something Teng Yuzhao often does, even to the staff members in the General Staff Office.

Wei Jinghai immediately went over to call Liu Yuzhi, but Duan Qirui looked at Teng Yuzao strangely.

Teng Yuzao also noticed that Duan Qirui's eyes were different, but he immediately realized that this must be Duan Qirui sensing his personality change, and he couldn't help but laugh at himself.

"Brother Zhiquan, do you feel that my personality has become much more easy-going?"

Duan Qirui was at a loss for words to answer after hearing Teng Yuzao's words. He opened his mouth awkwardly, but couldn't figure out what to say for a long time.

Before Duan Qirui could speak, Teng Yuzao said nonchalantly, "People will always change. Everyone must keep learning and changing, and cannot always stay in self-righteousness."

"Xunzi said, 'Evolving with the times, adapting to the world, changing with the times, the way remains the same.'"

The meaning of Teng Yuzao's words can be translated as keeping pace with the times, but he was interrupted before he could finish.

"Marshal, the foreign cavalry will be here soon."

After finishing the call, Wei Jinghai pointed to a mountain road in the distance that was blocked by a small patch of woods and said.

Sure enough, amid the continuous sound of volleys of gunfire, the last rearguard of the 3rd Mixed Brigade came out from behind the woods. The outpost that originally had nearly 200 people now had only 140 or 50 people left.

Although this sentry suffered heavy losses along the way, they still fired several volleys of gunfire without stopping, then turned around and ran for a while amid the hail of gunfire from the Cossack cavalry who were leisurely chasing them from behind, and then stubbornly continued to block the pursuing Cossack cavalry.

Duan Qirui exclaimed as he looked at the cavalry in brightly colored uniforms chasing out from behind the woods.

"Cossacks!"

Teng Yuzhao was not interested in the Cossack cavalry. As long as he did not use his own cavalry to fight the enemy, he did not have to worry too much about the enemy.

What Teng Yuzhao now found strange was that, except for the wounded on stretchers and door panels, the troops that Hu Dianjia had withdrawn had been transferred behind the hill, but the rest of the troops of the 3rd Mixed Brigade did not immediately withdraw to the hills beside the mountain road where positions had been dug, but instead lined up in several horizontal rows at the foot of the hill, completely cutting off the mountain road.

They looked as if they were going to fight to the death with the Allied cavalry that was chasing them along the same route.

The hundreds of Allied cavalrymen who were chasing after them also discovered the situation of the Third Mixed Brigade. They all reined in their horses, stopped on the flat and open areas on the mountain roads and on the roadside, and stood to watch.

The front of the blocking position is very open. The hills in front and on both sides are not only very low, but also very gently sloping, allowing a horse to gallop across a width of seven or eight hundred meters. From the woods to the position where Hu Dianjia was lined up, it was more than two thousand meters away, which was very conducive to infantry assembly and cavalry charge.

Duan Qirui said angrily, "What is Hu Dianjia trying to do? Is he trying to use his infantry to stop the cavalry of the foreign coalition forces on the flat ground? Isn't this courting death?"

Wei Jinghai also said in surprise, "Marshal, should we send a message to Commander Hu, asking him to lead his troops to retreat up the hill and into the preset position?"

Teng Yuzao ignored Duan Qirui, but sighed to Wei Jinghai and said, "There's no need to send a message. Hu Dianjia must have suffered a lot from the foreign devil cavalry. Hu Dianjia must hate these cavalry to the core. Now he is no longer worried about being caught up by the foreign devil infantry, so he wants to teach these foreign devil cavalry a lesson to vent his anger."

Wei Jinghai said worriedly, "But Commander Liu said that the foreign devils have thousands of cavalrymen, and the terrain here is conducive to cavalry attacks. They..."

Teng Yuzao stopped Wei Jinghai from continuing to speak, "Ningbo, you don't have to worry too much. I just noticed that although Hu Dianjia's cannons are gone, he still has more than 30 heavy machine guns. Can you see where his heavy machine guns are now?"

Wei Jinghai raised the telescope, looked for a while and said, "Marshal, didn't you see their heavy machine guns?"

"Could it be that Commander Hu hid his heavy machine gun in the ranks, and he lined up to fight against the foreign cavalry in order to lure them into charging?"

Duan Qirui said worriedly, "Marshal Fu, the terrain here is very favorable for cavalry. Even if Hu Dianjia has a machine gun, it will be difficult to stop the charge of thousands of cavalry from the foreign coalition forces?"

Teng Yuzao patiently explained, "Zhiquan, you are from the artillery department, and you are not familiar with cavalry and infantry combat."

"The current terrain is indeed very favorable to the cavalry. In the past, they would definitely not be able to stop the enemy, but now with the heavy machine guns, in front of a certain number of heavy machine guns, it is the cavalry that suffers."

"Even if the infantry is well-trained and there are enough of them, they can still cause great losses to the cavalry with uninterrupted volley fire."

Teng Yuzao said in a positive tone, "Although the vanguard troops are not yet well-trained, and the soldiers of the Third Mixed Brigade who have withdrawn are all tired, from Hu Dianjia's attitude, we can feel that they have been angry for a long time. They will definitely fight together against the enemy and will definitely not lose."

"What's more, if the situation gets critical, they will also receive fire support from the artillery and the First Mixed Brigade on the surrounding hill positions, so there will definitely be no major problems."

"In this battle, it would be best if we could destroy as many of the foreign cavalry as possible. Otherwise, it is very likely that some of the foreign cavalry will eventually be able to escape our encirclement by relying on their speed."

After the 3rd Mixed Brigade stopped retreating and lined up to stand ready for battle, the gunfire on the battlefield stopped and the sound of a large group of cavalry running closer and closer could be heard.

Soon, a black mass of Allied cavalry emerged from behind the woods. From a distance, it seemed that there were as many as four or five thousand of them.

The reason why the Allied cavalry pursued so closely was that they did not want to give the 3rd Mixed Brigade, which was fighting and retreating, a chance to catch its breath, so that the 3rd Mixed Brigade would be exhausted and finally annihilated in one fell swoop.

The coalition cavalry seemed to be angered by the actions of the 3rd Mixed Brigade, which was waiting in formation, and obviously refused to give it time to recuperate. The other side only paused for a short while before deploying its formation and preparing for a charge.

Looking at the dark masses of Allied cavalry, Teng Yuzao became a little worried and said to Wei Jinghai.

"Call the Artillery Brigade and the First Mixed Brigade and ask them to be ready to support the Third Mixed Brigade with firepower at any time."

After the Allied cavalry deployed in a horizontal row more than 400 meters wide, they finally began to move, and the officers and soldiers in the Third Mixed Brigade finally began to raise their guns, as if they were ready to fight to the death.

However, their actions made the Allied cavalry even more unscrupulous and ready to launch a fierce cavalry charge.

The large group of cavalry first urged their horses to trot, then gradually accelerated. When they were still 400 meters away from the Third Mixed Brigade's formation, amid a deafening shout of "Ura", a cold and dazzling light suddenly rose from the large group of cavalry.

The Cossack cavalry, which had already started galloping, leaned forward amid the rumbling sound of iron hooves, with their Chasik sabers pointed diagonally forward, making a terrifying sound.

Amidst the deafening “Ura” shouts, there were also equally powerful shouts of “Get on board!”, which were the shouts of the Japanese cavalrymen, who were following closely behind the Cossack cavalry and were outnumbered, urging their ponies to run as fast as they could…

(End of this chapter)