This wave of counterattack of the Qing army came very quickly and suddenly, and the attack of tens of thousands of cavalry could not resist at all, and after losing three companies of cavalry, four companies of musketeers, and one battalion of punishment battalions, the whole army of the Huaxia Army withdrew into the inner circle trench garrison area.

And the great army of the Qing army has arrived.

Flags were flying all over the sky, and it looked like soldiers and horses from all walks of life were coming.

There are all kinds of village warriors and people's strong teams who went into battle in a hurry, as well as soldiers and horses organized by various landlords and heroes, merchants' horse teams, as well as soldiers and horses of the green battalion of the Qing army, soldiers and horses of the Han army, soldiers and horses of the Manchurian New Army, cavalry of the Mongols, and even the banners of the Dutch and the banners of the Spaniards.

The nearby towns and villages were all occupied, all those who had helped the Huaxia army in the countryside were destroyed, and those who did not help were also made by foreign soldiers and horses, and there were many resistances, and the Qing army was busy encircling and suppressing those horse gangs and merchants from other places who refused to submit, and suppressed the landlords and families who were not allowed to enter their houses.

While observing the enemy's movements, Dongfeng Po urgently convened a meeting of his subordinates, the commander of the cavalry regiment, the commander of the three field brigades, the commander of the artillery regiment, and the commander of the garrison of the punishment battalion brigade, the punishment battalion belongs to the category of the garrison army and belongs to the jurisdiction of the garrison headquarters, and the captain is equal to a regiment commander with the rank of major.

But the Correctional Battalion Brigade had more troops under his jurisdiction than the troops under his own control, captive soldiers, civilians, servants, the Correctional Battalion Overseer Brigade and the Combat Brigade here.

As soon as the commander of the Punishment Battalion, Major, Dongfeng Po opened his mouth and asked him, "How many of your men and horses who were working outside and assisting in the defense have been withdrawn, how many have you lost, and how many soldiers and horses do we have now?" ”

The commander of the punishment battalion said: "About 20,000 newly captured civilians are missing or dead, captured by the enemy, more than 10,000 people are confirmed dead, 3,000 soldiers and horses of the servant army are dead, or captured, or missing, 300 men and horses who are supervising the work of the punishment battalion are missing, more than 1,000 people are killed in battle, more than 500 people have fled back, the battle losses are more than 600 people in a battalion, 1,800 people have fled back, and along with the people of those villages, there are about 5,000 people."

In short, we have lost a total of 30,000 civilians this time, captives, and newly captured civilians, as well as those whom we have not disturbed, and it seems that our punishment battalion has not lost its combat effectiveness, nor is there any major disorder, but it will take some time to restore morale. ”

"That means we still have about 70,000 to 80,000 cannon fodder?" The east wind breaks the road.

The major of the correctional battalion did not speak, which was tantamount to acquiescence.

Dongfeng Po said to the cavalry commander: "How many losses are our cavalry?" ”

The commander of the cavalry regiment said: "The loss of one and a half battalions, and this loss is still increasing, that is to say, now or after a while, all of them are withdrawn, our cavalry regiment will lose about two battalions of soldiers and horses, if we add the cavalry battalion of the directly subordinate troops, we will lose one regiment." ”

Dong Dongfeng Po did not evaluate the losses, but said to the cavalry commander: "Immediately send a company of cavalry to pursue in the direction of Datong, chase back the cavalry regiment and field brigade to me, and at the same time inform the Merlin Fish Corps and the Eighth Field Division that we need their help, at least the two troops that have just been gone for a day need to come back." ”

"We don't have much cavalry left, and if we transfer another company, our cavalry strength will be less than a battalion of troops, and with the cavalry platoon directly under the regimental headquarters, we won't be able to make up a battalion of full cavalry." The commander of the cavalry regiment said.

"Don't worry about that, anyway, our cavalry can't compete with the enemy's tens of thousands of cavalry, so we can only fight positional defensive battles."

After saying this, he arranged the deployment of the infantry and artillery of several field brigades, and then said to them: "Now we can only block the enemy by ourselves, and wait for the servant army and prisoners, and the morale of the people to recover, then we can send them into battle again, and resist until tonight, with the strength of one regiment in each position, plus some servant troops to assist, and after the evening, change to another regiment and hold out until tomorrow day." ”

At night, in the headquarters of the Corps, Hu Kui and the 5,000 soldiers and horses directly under the Corps have come to the county seat, where there are a company of soldiers and horses of the 16th Field Division, as well as the strength of a company of the garrison brigade, and the soldiers and horses of a battalion of the punishment battalion brigade. There is also a baggage regiment assigned to the 16th Field Division that is responsible for transporting supplies to the 16th Field Division, and the 2nd Cavalry Brigade of the Bagyalu Corps, which is newly transferred from the Corps, is fighting with the 1st Field Division, and now they have no cavalry strength to command.

Only the corps' own cavalry battalions directly under the corps can be used to convey and receive messages.

In the morning, I received a report from the 16th Field Division, the enemy 400,000 soldiers and horses were coming, and the corps headquarters was also nervous, they were not far from Zhangjiakou County, but more than 100 miles, if the enemy attacked, only five or six thousand soldiers and horses could not resist so many Qing troops, and the enemy in the report had tens of thousands of cavalry, which made the manpower of the corps headquarters even more flustered, and it was impossible to escape. And the prisoners and servants who were sent forward were gathered from all sides, and prepared to defend the headquarters.

Corps headquarters are all non-combat units directly under the corps, and the combat units are limited, either on the way to give orders, or on the way to escort supplies, or on the way to guard and escort prisoners.

Only then did Hu Kui feel that his troops were insufficient, and the spread was too large, and he was in danger of being broken by the enemy.

The only way now is to move closer to the 16th Field Division, which will not only increase the strength of the 16th Field Division, but also protect the security of the corps headquarters.

However, before they could react, the cavalry on the periphery told them to run back, and the enemy's tens of thousands of cavalry rushed towards this side, followed by tens of thousands of soldiers and horses, which made the corps headquarters even more panicked.

Hu Kui immediately decided to ask for help from the Merlin Fish Corps in Shanxi Prefecture, and only they could send troops and horses to help as soon as possible, so not long after he sent a messenger for help, the enemy's cavalry came, and the corps headquarters had to retreat to the county seat to protect itself.

On the other hand, Dongfeng Po is facing the enemy's attacks in turn.

Or tens of thousands of cavalry revolving around the trenches of the inner ring position, and shooting from time to time, the soldiers of each defense calmly waited for them to come up and attack, these are all veterans of a hundred battles, there are not many recruits, and the recruits have fought at least a few battles, although they are all auxiliary servant troops and captive soldiers attack, but this kind of low-intensity battle is a good training for them.

(End of chapter)