When Qi Rui woke up, the sky was slightly bright, several comrades were huddled together, and the marching quilt for a single person was used together, with two layers on the bottom of the carriage and two layers on the body. In less than 10 degrees Celsius, the fitted sleeping bag is lined with a layer of cashmere, which feels warm and dry.

There was already movement outside, the sound of trucks starting, the smell of cooking smoke while cooking. Although the sound of light rain hitting the carport meant that it was still raining, the camp was as active as ever.

Qi Rui didn't have the habit of lying in bed, and after waking up, he climbed out of the sleeping bag. As soon as he jumped down from the side of the carriage, he saw Qian Daduo, the deputy head of the night shift, coming up to meet him. "Political commissar, Wu Chaoyang brought a platoon of troops to the front."

It was still dark when Wu Chaoyang set off, but this did not affect the march of the motorized infantry. Yesterday, when they were resting, the sappers went to explore the road on two legs. The Americas were very inhospitable, and the existing roads were originally made out by the wheels of the carts ridden by the pioneers. Finding a new road on the fly was the least efficient approach, and the sappers braved the rain to walk more than a dozen kilometers before returning, leaving signs on the side of the road.

When he saw the road sign, Wu Chaoyang felt really admired. It was a wooden plank, coated with silver powder toward the side of the road. Of course, I can't see clearly in the dark, but when I hit the headlights, I immediately reflected a bright light. After more than a dozen such signs, Wu Chaoyang found a problem. As soon as the motorists see these signs, they will start to turn. And it's always good to find the right direction.

"What's going on?" After the car soldiers began to walk on the straighter road, Wu Chaoyang couldn't help but ask.

"The road sign appears on the right, and the angle is to the left, which tells us to turn left. Appears on the left, the angle is to the right, which is to tell us that the left cannot go and needs to turn right. The auto soldiers already have a lot of experience, so they replied casually.

Just this sentence, Wu Chaoyang, as a cavalryman, felt that the automobile soldiers were really technical troops, and they were so particular about inserting a marker pole. However, Wu Chaoyang did not praise so frankly, he asked: "How can you be sure which poles will not be pulled out?" ”

"There are rules for how far a pole can be inserted. If you can't see it, you need to pay a lot of attention. The auto soldier replied.

Wu Chaoyang was speechless at this time, he only considered the guiding effect of this pole for a while, but ignored the warning effect of this pole.

By the time the sky was slightly bright, the cavalry had already lined up a reconnaissance sequence on the road for more than ten kilometers, and the cavalry could already be seen in the telescope. When the horses were put to the last checks, Wu Chaoyang hoped to complete the march within two or three days. His foal was a red horse with a white star-shaped hair on his forehead, and there was no shortage of stoves because of the truck-pulled marching kitchen. In addition to boiling water for the horses to drink, they can even rinse them briefly with hot water. Even so, this well-bred jujube red horse has lost a lot of weight, and its fur is far from as bright as it was before departure. Muddy stains on the fur are not something that can be cleaned with a simple brush.

took off his poncho and carefully covered the jujube red horse, Wu Chaoyang leaned next to the jujube red horse and lit a cigarette for himself. Maybe it was too cold in winter, or it was the stimulation of cigarettes, and the red horse raised his head and snorted a few times. Wu Chaoyang could feel the strong muscles under his horse's fur and the heat emanating from the fur. Looking at those cars unconcerned and starting the return journey with the muddy stains on the cars, Wu Chaoyang suddenly felt that the world was changing too fast and too fast. In the past 20 years or so, the Liberation Army has finally developed a system for cultivating good breeds, and before it has had time to prove the tremendous power of the cavalry units in a large-scale war, the cavalry has a tendency to be eliminated by four-wheeled cars.

The motorized infantrymen rested a little after breakfast before getting into the car, which is also the experience accumulated in reality. After getting into the car, Qi Rui felt very happy. Cavalry clearing the way can speed up the march of motorized infantry by a lot. The most important thing is that if the 40-kilometer march can be maintained today, it will be possible to reach the junction of mountains and plains in two days at most. At that time, the 23rd Army could carry out the cleansing of the plains. With such a large plain as a base, the Liberation Army will have a solid rear for the next war operations. If such a task is completed one day earlier, Qi Rui can return to Xinxiang with the motorized infantry one day earlier. By the time spring is in full bloom in April, a motorized infantry division or even a motorized infantry corps can be used as a sharp knife to attack the Great Lakes region. The motorized infantry showed much more combat effectiveness on this march than initially thought.

The speed of travel was about the same as Qi Rui thought, and he drove out nearly 30 kilometers in the morning. The mountains in the distance are more clearly visible, and the weather in the mountains is changing too quickly, looking in the direction of the plains, the entire plain area is still shrouded in rain clouds, and the sky in the direction of the mountains is actually clear. Half cloudy, half white clouds dotted with blue sky, the sun slanted down from the junction of the two, reflecting countless visible tracks in the half-cloudy and half-rainy air, as if countless pillars of light fell from the sky.

Under this pillar of light, hundreds of war horses swept across the wet field.

Qi Rui rubbed his eyes and quickly raised the binoculars. That's right, hundreds of horses, hundreds of riders swooped in like a torrent from the direction of the mountains. As can be seen from the attire and the Star-Spangled Banner held high by the standard-bearer at the head, this is the American cavalry. In the face of this torrent, the Chinese cavalry at the front of the line turned around and withdrew.

Putting down the binoculars, Qi Rui gave a thumbs up to Wu Chaoyang, the commander of the cavalry battalion, in his heart, and at this time, he wanted to hurry away. In the face of the surprise attack of the superior enemy, it is indeed tragic and stupid to rush forward to die after looking up to the sky and roaring. In theory, there are no stupid people in the Liberation Army, and it is especially impossible for stupid commanders to exist. The reason why he had such an idea was that Qi Rui was worried. Wu Chaoyang's resistance to motorized infantry distorted his judgment of the situation, and now seeing that Wu Chaoyang did not make a wrong judgment because of his personal philosophy, Qi Rui finally put his mind at ease. When motorized infantry fights, they don't want to have their own people in front of the enemy.

A motorized rifle regiment has fifteen thousand people, and these personnel and equipment are transported by 200 trucks. Such a fleet of trucks can be lined up for up to two kilometers. Seeing that the battle was about to begin, the truck responsible for delivering the news fired two green and one red flares sooner or later. Under the overcast sky, the flares tore through the dim trail. It makes people feel an inexplicably weird feeling.

Some trucks stopped on the side of the road that did not block traffic, and the infantrymen threw down their ponchos, buckled up their steel helmets, carried combat backpacks, and carried rifles, and rushed to the front line in column mode under the leadership of the squad leader. Trucks with heavy weapons followed the path where other trucks had aside, and rallied to the front line with full force.

The artillery commanders asked the soldiers to wave the signal flag and direct the artillery to assemble in a more suitable area. Trucks towing heavy machine guns headed straight to the front line, laboriously traversing the body in muddy water before the enemy could charge the troops, allowing the heavy machine guns mounted on the chassis to have a maximum angle of fire.

In muddy soil, the horses were not inconsiderably restricted. It was in this way that the horses of the Chinese cavalry showed far superior capabilities to the American cavalry mounts. The distance between the two sides was originally as much as 200 meters, but after the Chinese cavalry crossed the distance of two or three kilometers, the gap between the two sides widened to 300 meters.

Wu Chaoyang turned his head to look at the enemy behind him before passing through the defensive position composed of motorized infantry convoys. He felt quite disappointed in his heart, perhaps because he had reached a safe area, Wu Chaoyang felt that he should slow down a little and let the enemy follow closer. This makes it easier for motorized infantry heavy machine guns to be effective. However, it was the first time in Wu Chaoyang's life that he was chased by the enemy so fiercely, and the enemy kept firing guns at Wu Chaoyang and them. Wu Chaoyang deeply felt the fear, and when he retreated in front of the enemy, he only hated that the horses were not fast enough.

Turning his head, Wu Chaoyang saw that Ma Xiaoming, who was standing behind the truck at the machine gun position, was not wearing a raincoat, and was raising his thumbs up to Wu Chaoyang and the others. From Ma Xiaoming's expression, Wu Chaoyang didn't see the slightest hint of ridicule.

The motorized infantry regiment was a reinforced regiment, and not only the infantry were rushing to the front line on two legs, but the cavalry battalion that reinforced the motorized infantry regiment was also quickly catching up. As they ran, the infantry of the two battalions gradually rallied according to their respective companies, apparently to come up and strengthen the machine-gun positions. The cavalry battalion drove the horses forward slowly, not only did not compete with the infantry, but also warmed up, and could be put into battle at any time.

Wu Chaoyang, who had withdrawn, also slowed down, and Wu Chaoyang pulled out his saber and raised it high, drawing a circle in the air. Under this command action, the cavalry platoon also slowed down the horses and began to prepare for the military maneuver of the queue turn.

At the moment when Wu Chaoyang was about to turn his horse's head, the entire defense line composed of heavy machine guns began to fire fiercely. Turning the horse's head, Wu Chaoyang saw that in less than a minute, the heavy machine gun that was still covered with canvas had already torn off the canvas cover when Wu Chaoyang passed by. The machine gunners operated the machine guns and opened heavy fire on the American cavalry more than a hundred meters away. Just as the machine guns were cutting down the American cavalry to the ground in rows like cutting rice, the artillerymen's 37 guns also began to fire fiercely at a greater distance.

Machine gun fire at close range, artillery fire at a distance. In an instant, the American cavalry units were covered under the fire of motorized infantry regiments. Wu Chaoyang only felt that his horse was nervous, and he hurriedly comforted his beloved horse. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the motorized infantry were not stationary, and seven or eight trucks continued to move along the road relatively far from the battlefield. At the head were three trucks towing heavy machine guns. It was followed by four or five trucks crammed with fighters. Judging from the direction in which they were traveling, this mobile force was intended to implement a strategy of outflanking, or at least to block the escape of the American cavalry from the left flank of the Chinese side.

At this moment, an infantry ran up to Wu Chaoyang and shouted: "Battalion Commander Wu, the regiment commander ordered you to attack from the right flank, outflank the enemy, and you can't let them run away!" ”

"Cavalry, all of them!" Wu Chaoyang shouted in the unique loud voice of a cavalry officer, "Turn right!" Let's go! ”

After shouting, Wu Chaoyang raised his saber high and took the lead in the direction ordered by the regiment commander Ma Xiaoming. The cavalry urged their mounts and followed the battalion commander Wu Chaoyang to gallop to the right side of the battlefield.