In the Gobi Desert, the temperature is already very low at night in autumn.
At this moment.
A marching team carrying torches advanced rapidly toward the north in the darkness.
Most of this team was wearing the uniforms of the Russian shooting army in medium gray cotton clothes, and there were also Cossack cavalry dressed like Santa Claus. They were marching away under the moonlight.
Although it has already entered autumn, the temperature difference between day and night on the Mobei Prairie is still very large. The sun at noon is very fierce, so it is usually necessary to avoid repairing.
To buy more time.
Russian commanders Repnin and Mikhail arranged their rest time at noon and chose to march at night, early morning, and evening.
at the same time.
The reconnaissance cavalry sent by the Ming Dynasty Zhengxidu Division has also caught up with the huge Russian Siberian garrison.
"This Rakshasa ghost can run really fast. He can run hundreds of miles every day. He can run back to Irkutsk in a few days!"
Lu Fuhai, a veteran who finally became an officer, was sitting on the horse, holding the reins with his right hand and mumbling to himself while stuffing naan bread into his mouth with his left hand.
As a veteran who joined the army during the Battle of Nanxiong Province.
A Hakka hunter from Nanxiongzhou County, Shaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong Province, was skillfully controlling the horse at this time, staring at the helmet, and his face was wrapped in gauze to resist the yellow sand in the sky.
Take a bite of naan bread.
I don’t know if I ate more sand or more bread.
"Bah, bah, bah"
Spit out a mouth full of yellow sand.
Lu Fuhai began to regret coming to this ghost place.
He is a Hakka man who has been hunting in the mountains of Lingnan since he was a child.
The customary foods to eat are glutinous rice cakes, stuffed tofu, landscape fish, braised duck, Meiling goose, and Hakka rice wine.
Since the Xidu Division had to fight in the Gobi desert, the only military rations they were equipped with were flour, beef, and mutton jerky.
It tastes fresh at first, but after eating too much, it becomes tasteless.
Moreover, this vast Gobi desert is full of yellow sand and has huge temperature differences.
It’s really not a place to raise people.
I really don’t know what the emperor was thinking. What’s so good about such a poor place? A large army will also be sent to fight.
It is better to occupy all of Nanyang. I heard that most of the rice in the Ming Dynasty now comes from Nanyang. A place that can produce so much rice is a good place.
But there is no way.
Who told him that he was born to fail in exams?
I took the exam several times and failed to reach the minimum passing mark, so I couldn't be promoted to an officer.
In the end, his old superior, Luo Dingshan, acted as a guarantor and transferred him to Zhengxi Dusi, which was in urgent need of officers, as a platoon leader. Once he had made great achievements, he could be transferred back to the mainland as a company commander, battalion commander, or something like that.
When the time comes to retire, he will be able to earn a knighthood based on his merits.
By then his family would be considered prosperous.
But now it seems that the task of conquering Xidusi is not easy to handle.
"Platoon leader, I think the Rakshasa ghost is really going to retreat. They haven't sent cavalry to drive us away in the past few days, so they just let us hang like this."
A cavalryman with a gray beard who had served in Qianlong's coat army approached Lu Fuhai and smiled.
"That was their intention." Lu Fuhai had been a soldier for many years, so he still had some battlefield experience.
"Are you saying that the Rakshasa ghost wants to lure us into taking the bait?"
"Hehe, of course, they must want to let our people chase them, and when our horses are tired, they will turn back to fight!" Lu Fuhai chuckled, "But this has nothing to do with us, we just follow That's it, these Rakshasa ghosts all look like ghosts. They look fierce, but in fact, it's just the same thing. Even a shot will make a hole. They hide every day and don't dare to fight. If they give up a few times, if they let If they go back to that bastard's shell in Irkutsk, this battle cannot last for a year or two, and they must be dealt with quickly. Ya, I want to go back to my hometown in Nanxiong!"
As he spoke, Lu Fuhai loudly gave orders to everyone around him.
"Light up all the torches. Since the Rakshasa ghosts don't mind letting us follow, then we won't be sneaky! We are soldiers of the sky, and we are afraid of a Cossack with a weak egg!"
The identity of the Great Tomorrow Soldier may really give these soldiers, whose main source of troops is the original Eight Banners of Manchuria and Mongolia, endless courage.
Suddenly, they lit torches one after another, and followed the Russian army group a hundred or two hundred meters away, monitoring them as they headed north.
"Master Brigadier! The Russian army is stationed in Kyaktu ahead, less than fifty miles away from here!"
Lu Fuhai stood next to Chen Liansheng, raised his hand and saluted.
anyway
Lu Fuhai caught Chen Liansheng when he escaped from Green Camp.
did not expect.
Now one of them has graduated from the military academy and has become a brigade commander.
And Lu Fuhai finally became an official, although he was only a small platoon leader.
Chen Liansheng also did not show the brigade commander's profile in front of Lu Fuhai.
Although Lu Fuhai's official position is low, he has friendships with many big shots.
For example, Zeng Ada, the commander of the 35th Brigade, and Xing Luo Dingshan, the Ming Dynasty general who is now a major general.
"Finally caught up! Lao Lu, how many days have they been resting?"
"It's been two days. The water and grass in Kyaktu are plentiful. The Rakshasa ghost's war horses have spread out and eaten the grass for two days. They are well-trained and much better than our horses." Lu Fuhai looked at Chen Liansheng's panting behind him. The gruff war horse couldn't help but frown.
These horses.
Already gone to waste.
Being useless means that these horses are basically no longer usable as war horses.
They can only be killed and used as military rations.
Chen Liansheng also saw Lu Fuhai's expression and couldn't help but laugh: "Old Lu, what's wrong? We can't win without cavalry?"
Lu Fuhai shook his head and said: "Not really, it's just...how can we pursue and expand the results without cavalry?"
Chen Liansheng raised his head and looked at the sky.
"That's right, so this battle cannot be fought normally, and we are not the only ones who want to fight this battle. Why don't the Rakshasa ghosts want to fight? If they really don't want to fight, why not just go back to Irkutsk. "
"It seems like we are really going to fight this time! It will probably be a night attack!"
Fukangan said.
Marshal Fu made a mistake last time.
This time judgment was made again.
I don’t know if I will make another mistake.
Chen Liansheng muttered in his heart.
However, he actually agreed with Fukang'an's judgment.
If he were the Russian commander, he would not miss this night.
Because the Ming army came from afar, they were trapped and lacked horses, and their horses were unable to fight after running for so many days. They had to dismount and fight hand-to-hand, and there was no time to build any fortifications. It was the weakest time.
The Russian army had been repairing for two days and still had two regiments of cavalry. The Russian shooting corps of that division was also a mounted infantry with horses for everyone.
There is a horse versus no horse.
Who can pass the trial? Isn't it obvious who has the advantage?
Marshal Fu finally got it right for once.
Repnin stood on the horse with a telescope and observed the catching up Ming army. After putting down the telescope, he said: "Their horses are useless, and now they are all infantry!"
Although infantry is not easy to deal with, it is relatively safer to deal with infantry - without horses, even if you win, it will be difficult to expand the results.
The Russian army can withstand defeat, and they can retreat at any time with the help of cavalry.
Mikhail also breathed a sigh of relief. In theory, the Russian army did have a great advantage in this battle.
"It's better to send five hundred cavalry to harass them first!"
Mikhail said.
Military order.
Five thousand Cossack cavalry quickly moved into action.
But when they appeared, the Ming army was also well prepared. Grain trucks were placed at the front, fixed and compacted with rammed earth and sandbags, forming a circle.
At the same time, artillery positions were also arranged.
In this way, these Cossacks would not dare to approach.
They circled around the Ming army's vehicle formation, and then fired harassingly from two miles away.
At such a long distance, the projectiles fired by the musket pose no threat at all.
There was no reaction from the Ming army in the car formation. Except for some sentries, most of the officers and soldiers were either eating or sleeping.
No one even raised a gun to fight back at such a long distance.
"Are these people really the remnants of the Qing army?"
Repnin frowned.
Such performance.
They would definitely be considered elite on the European battlefield.
These five thousand Ming troops.
Not easy to deal with!
(End of chapter)
