At this time, although the rain stopped, the sky was still overcast, and the ground was wet.

Xu Zhongshu squinted at the enemy army in front of him!

In front of him was an enemy army that was lining up and gradually advancing, no less numerous, at least four or five thousand people.

Just thirty minutes earlier, an infantry company of the 1st Infantry Corps, which had advanced reconnaissance, had encountered an enemy force of about three or four hundred men in the area.

Because the terrain in this area is somewhat undulating, and there are also shrubs, and both sides are forward troops, and their whereabouts are relatively secretive, so the scouts on both sides have not been able to detect each other.

It wasn't until they were close to a few hundred meters that they found each other.

The other side seemed to feel that they had an advantage in strength, and they actually launched an active attack, and they still launched a line attack in a dense formation.

The infantry company immediately relied on the terrain to carry out defensive operations on the spot, directly repelled the enemy troops, and inflicted considerable casualties on the enemy troops.

But this is not the end, just the beginning.

Because this sudden battle instantly triggered a chain reaction, the scouts on both sides began to search everywhere, and finally found the main force of the other party.

When Xu Zhongshu learned that there was an enemy army of about 5,000 men in front of him, he knew that this was the forward force of the enemy army.

But this enemy forward force came early, which is not what Xu Zhongshu wants, let alone what the General Staff Office wants to see.

In the series of battle plans drawn up by the Staff Office of the Sixth Division, there are two very key words, that is, to predetermine the time and the battlefield.

That is to say, the Sixth Division is preparing to fight the enemy on a predetermined battlefield and at a predetermined time, rather than a simple field encounter.

But it's not easy to do that!

It is relatively easy to preset the battlefield, and now the terrain in the area where the first corps is located is the preset battlefield carefully selected by the General Staff Office, according to the operational plan of the General Staff Office.

If you face the enemy here, then part of the terrain will be extremely advantageous for your side, including several high terrain hills that can be used as artillery positions, there are also bushes as areas for cavalry ambushes, and some areas with complex terrain suitable for skirmish operations for the first group to use rear-loading guns.

What's more, if two rear-loading guns were deployed on the highest hill, it would cover almost the entire battlefield!

Otherwise, the first corps would not have marched in advance to arrive at the place, they came to this place in advance, in addition to continuing to reconnoiter the terrain and providing information for the subsequent decisive battle, the more important task was to stop the enemy's forward troops, or even delay the enemy's advance, so as to buy time for their main forces to arrive at the place for deployment.

Therefore, after learning of the arrival of the enemy's forward troops, Xu Zhongshu did not hesitate at all, directly commanded the troops to begin to deploy the defensive line, and asked the First Cavalry Regiment to cooperate in the operation.

It's just that although the defensive line has been deployed, he is also very confident in his first step corps, but he has little confidence in the artillery.

Because it was a light and rapid march, and the roads were not easy to walk, the artillery forces that came with the First Artillery Corps actually did not have any field artillery in the First Artillery Regiment.

Only two five-pound cavalry artillery companies belonging to the cavalry unit.

There is no way, in this kind of ghost weather, in this road situation, the mobility of field artillery in the artillery unit is really worrying, and only lightweight cavalry guns can carry out rapid maneuvering.

The only thing that made him more reassuring was that the four or five thousand people on the opposite side did not have any artillery, and it seemed that there were only a few companies of light artillery.

God is fair, the heavy artillery of the 6th Division had difficulty maneuvering, and the 5th and 7th divisions on the opposite side had just as difficult maneuvering.

As a result, only infantry and cavalry from both sides, as well as a small amount of light artillery, appeared on this battlefield.

Xu Zhongshu didn't know what the other party's task was, whether he wanted to break through his own interception and move forward, or something else, but he knew his mission.

That is, to stop the advance of this enemy army, and even if necessary, to block the march of the enemy's main forces, to buy time for the main forces in the rear.

So he didn't hesitate to deploy the defensive line!

Because time was pressing, there was no time to dig trenches or anything like that, so the soldiers were left to fight on the terrain.

As for directly standing in a stupid formation to fight, this is no longer the way the first corps fights.

As the only infantry regiment in the whole army that is fully equipped with breech-loading rifles, the tactics of the First Infantry Corps are completely different from those of other units.

That is, a series of new light infantry tactics formulated by Wu Guanlin!

The core of the tactics of the new light infantry is to rely on the terrain to fight on their stomachs in order to avoid enemy fire and even bullets, and reduce their own casualties.

At the same time, the rate of fire of the rear-loading rifle coupled with the multi-layered fire net, which exerts a firepower density far more than the traditional line formation.

At present, the tactical deployment of the first corps is completely dependent on the new light infantry tactics formulated by Wu Guanlin.

This one was lying on the top of the hill, so much so that the commander of the army of the county guard on the opposite side was inexplicable to see it!

Zhen Changdong, the commander of the 12th Brigade of the Fifth Division of the County Shoufu, was puzzled: "Could it be that they dug a chest wall trench in advance and hid inside?" Or did they just lie on the ground? ”

An officer on the side said: "It is impossible for them to dig a trench, they only came into contact half an hour ago, and our army's scouts have been monitoring them for half an hour, although they have urgently dug part of the fortifications, but they have definitely not dug a trench on a whole front!" ”

"So, they're just lying on the ground and fighting?" When Zhen Changdong said this, his face was no longer puzzled, but with a trace of worry.

Because at this time, he remembered the New Army in the South China Sea that he had fought before.

The rats of the New Army in the South China Sea also fought like this, and it was not decent to lie on the ground and fight them directly.

Why, because those people in the South China Sea New Army are equipped with rear-loading rifles.

And the county guard also knew that Lin Ziran's Sixth Division might be equipped with the kind of rear-loading rifles of the Nanhai New Army, but they didn't know how many there were, and they didn't know which unit was specifically equipped.

And from the current point of view, the enemy army in front of them may be equipped with rear-loading rifles, otherwise, it is impossible for them to take the initiative to lie down and fight.

At this time, he already had a trace of jealousy in his heart!

Their troops are equipped with ordinary front-loading smoothbore guns, and the rate of fire is far from being comparable to that of rear-loading guns, and even the effective range is inferior.

So I saw him raise his hand slightly to signal the troops to slow down slightly, and at the same time ordered: "Send a company of chasseurs to test one or two, and then let the cavalry artillery troops follow up and support." ”

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