Standton, the rain was pouring down, the bright gas lamps reflected the empty streets, a cavalry squad galloping in the torrential rain passed through the city, went straight to the headquarters in the east of the city, and stopped his horse outside the gate, Wu Qingjiang, the commander of the 251st Brigade, turned over and dismounted neatly, strode into the courtyard, and took off his wide raincoat as soon as he turned into the corridor.

The war room was brightly lit, and Chen Baicun, commander of the 252nd Brigade, Delalay, commander of the 3rd Brigade of the Transvaal Defense Force stationed in Standton and Manila, and Hong Shengkui and Zhao Youda, commanders of the two brigades transferred from Yulin and Manila, were talking softly around the sand table.

Less than forty years old, De La Ré spoke fluent Chinese, and with the mining of the Transvaal gold mines, both Boers and blacks began to actively learn Chinese, and young government officials and middle- and lower-ranking military officers regarded Chinese as a compulsory language.

The strength of the Transvaal Wehrmacht was limited, and only one regiment was stationed in Standton on weekdays, and the Germans attacked, and the front of the troops was directed at Standton, and at the request of Feng Zicai, another regiment was transferred over, although there were only two regiments, but they were all cavalry.

As soon as Wu Qingjiang entered the door, he saw several brigade commanders, and he understood that there must be a big military operation tonight. ”

Wu Qingjiang said: "With such a heavy rain, can you prepare for a night attack?" While nodding and greeting a few other people, Hong Shengkui took over the conversation and said: "The German army on the opposite side has been resting for a few days, and the Franco-Austrian army has occupied Johannesburg today, so it should be the possibility of a night attack by the German army." ”

"On the opposite side are 30,000 German ......." Wu Qingjiang pondered and said: "Launching a night attack on the night of the rainstorm, this must not be a mess of porridge?" ”

"The Germans have an advantage in strength, and night attacks are not conducive to giving full play to their artillery superiority, even if it is a chaotic battle, it is also beneficial to .....the German army." Before Hong Shengkui finished speaking, he caught a glimpse of Yi Zhengxing and Feng Zicai walking in slowly, and hurriedly stopped talking and stood up and saluted.

"No need to be polite." Yi Zhengxing smiled and waved his hand, glanced at everyone, and then he said slowly: "The analysis is good, the night attack is more beneficial to the German army." Judging from the current situation, if the German army wants to attack on a large scale, it will inevitably rain in the next two days, and it is more likely to rain heavily tonight, and it must be strictly guarded against. ”

After a pause, he continued: "Summoning you here is to make a pre-deployment for the night attack of the German army tonight, and let General Feng make detailed deployment ...... for you." ”

"Although the night battle was dangerous, it was not a fighter plane for us, and it was a heavy blow to the German fighters." Feng Zicai said in a deep voice: "This fighter plane was obtained in exchange for taking the initiative to give up Fort John, if we can't grasp this fighter because of our carelessness and slackness, none of us here can explain to the top." ”

As he spoke, he glanced at a few people with sharp eyes, "To get back to the point, if the German army attacks at night tonight, remember to startle the snake and scare the German army, and be sure to attract the German army to attack with all its strength and inflict heavy damage on the German army in one fell swoop!" As he spoke, he picked up his hand and pointed to the sand table and said, "The 251st Brigade will immediately pull out the camp ......." ”

In the pouring rain, groups of soldiers and horses began to move urgently in the rain and dark, and Standton was mobilized both inside and outside, and the atmosphere became tense in an instant, and the officers and men who had been slack off because of the rainstorm night were all engaged in intense pre-war preparations.

An hour later, the communications room of the headquarters began to be busy, with the telephones ringing incessantly in the communications room for various orders, inquiries, and replies, and the operations staff officers frequently going back and forth between the communications room and the war room.

After half past nine, the departments were basically in place, and the war room and communication room gradually quieted down, but Yi Zhengxing couldn't calm down, pacing slowly back and forth in the war room, he once again felt the tension and apprehension before the outbreak of the war.

This time, it was a night battle of 50,000 or 60,000 troops, and if the German army did not attack, it would be fine, once the attack was launched, he would definitely do his best, although he did not have much actual combat experience, but he also knew the danger of night fighting, especially if the German army was brought closer to fight, the danger was even worse! As for the outcome of this battle, he has no bottom in his heart.

Seeing that he was restless, Feng Zicai deliberately distracted him, "Take the initiative to give up Fort John, in exchange for the opportunity to inflict heavy damage on the German army, but the prince is in the next big game of chess?" ”

Yi Zhengxing stopped and groaned before saying: "European countries use Johannesburg as the lifeblood of Yuan Qi, and Yuan Qi pushes the boat down the river, using John Fort as a huge and irresistible bait. ”

When he learned of the plan to abandon Fort John on his own initiative, Feng Zicai had vaguely guessed that this war was not so simple, and when he heard this, he immediately understood that he could no longer understand, and the heavy damage to the German army was also an important part of this plan, which not only confirmed the strength of the Qing Army, but also forced Germany to increase its troops, no, not only let Germany increase its troops, but also several other countries would increase their troops, and the war would be further expanded! It is clear that this is a deliberate expansion of this war in the Transvaal!

It was already ten o'clock in the evening, and the rain still did not stop, but the torrential rain turned into a light rain, although it was summer, after the heavy rain, the cool breeze could still feel the coolness, and the military uniform that had been wet by the rain was not only uncomfortable but also a little cold.

Guan Simin, the platoon commander of the reconnaissance company, squatted behind a bush of grass half a person high, and listened vigilantly to the movements around him with his ears pricked up.

"Platoon commander, there's movement!" Lu Xiaosun, who was lying on the sand, said in a low voice.

Lu Xiaosun has the ability to listen to the sound on the ground, and can hear the sound of horses' hooves from afar, Guan Simin hurriedly walked over and said in a low voice: "Is it a cavalry?" ”

"Judging from the sound of the tremors, it should be a large group of people, at least thousands."

"How far is it?"

"It should still be four or five miles away......."

"Are you sure?"

"Sure!"

"Little four, go back and report immediately." Guan Simin turned around and ordered, and then said in a low voice: "Continue listening, enter a mile range, and then we will retreat." ”

"Platoon commander." Deputy platoon commander Huang Yousheng said softly: "When the army marches, the scouts must move forward, and the company commander has explained, and we must not startle the snakes ........" ”

With a slight groan, Guan Simin asked again: "Are you sure it's a large group of people?" ”

"Sure!"

"Okay——, withdraw!"

After ten o'clock, Standton gradually fell into darkness, the gas lamps on the streets were extinguished after ten o'clock, and the originally brightly lit headquarters also turned off the bright gas lamps and replaced them with dimly lit sheep's horn lamps, and a staff officer walked quickly into the war room, "Report, the sentry detectives of the brigades came one after another, and found that the enemy troops in the brigade were marching at night and coming straight to us, about five kilometers away. ”

It's finally here! Finally, Feng Zicai was very excited, raised his wrist and glanced at his watch, the short hand was already close to eleven, "Command all departments, don't startle the snake." ”

Twenty kilometers, only seventeen kilometers to be exact, because the Qing army's position covered three kilometers in the eastern suburbs, and the front of the position was only seventeen kilometers away from the German camp.

There was still a light rain in the sky, and Frederick was riding on his horse. Carl looked at Standton, who was sparsely scattered in front of him with bright or dark lights, and inexplicably felt a trace of hesitation in his heart.

Chief of Staff James urged the horse forward and said slowly: "There is a saying in the East - the arrow is on the string, and if you don't, you won't send it." ”

"That's a good point." Frederick. Karl said in a deep voice, in the current situation, the German army is a typical arrow on the string has to be fired, he can no longer help but hesitate, slightly groaned, he ordered in a low voice, "Attack!" ”

Before the Germans could cut the barbed wire in a large area, sporadic gunfire rang out from the Qing army's position, and soon, the gunfire was densely packed into the "sudden burst" sound of the Makqin heavy machine gun mixed with the sound of rifles, which was terrifying, and immediately followed by a series of explosions, which experienced officers and men knew as soon as they heard it that it was mortar shells.

After the gunfire and explosions rang out, one flare after another exploded in the night sky, and the flares were illuminated as if it were day within a radius of several miles in front of the battlefield.

The flares of the Qing army have long resounded throughout Europe, Frederick. Karl was not surprised by this, for the German army, although the Qing army was well prepared, once the prelude to the offensive was opened, there was no way to retreat, and the top priority was to engage as soon as possible to avoid heavy casualties caused by the Qing artillery.

"Artillery cover!" Frederick. Karl waved the horsewhip in his hand and shouted, at this point, there is no room to retreat, at this time, he can't care about hiding his strength, using artillery fire to suppress fire, covering the infantry charge is the only choice, as for whether the artillery position will be exposed, he can't care about it, after all, he has divided the artillery into four artillery battalions, even if he loses one artillery battalion, it doesn't matter the overall situation.

Although the German land artillery was better at horizontal shelling, because the distance was far enough and the range of the position was large enough, the accuracy of the artillery bombardment was still very high, and a series of explosions sounded on the Qing army's position.

"Artillery suppression! Six shots from the land artillery and three shots from the light howitzers! Looking at the dense explosions rising from the position, and watching the continuous explosions on the position, his heart was dripping with a burst of blood, and he could see at a glance that the German artillery position was built only four kilometers away from the position.

This is an extremely headache distance, it is obvious that the Germans dare to set their artillery positions at such a close distance, it is clear that they are luring the enemy, once their artillery positions are exposed, they will also face heavy shelling from the opponent's artillery, but at the moment, they can only pin their hopes on the peripheral artillery positions.

The whistling shells fell intensively on the German frontal artillery positions, especially the 15-kilogram high-explosive shells fired by the 105mm light howitzers, even if they could not hit accurately, the shock wave could still cause a devastating blow.

As soon as the West Artillery Battalion opened fire, the artillery positions naturally could not be concealed, and two of the remaining three artillery battalions of the German army immediately carried out fierce counterattacks, and the advantage of the German rainy night attack was vividly displayed at this moment, if it was in the daytime, under the suppression of the heavy artillery of the Qing army, the artillery could not reach such a close distance, although the accuracy of the artillery shelling at night was greatly reduced, but under the saturated shelling of the many artillery carpets of the two artillery battalions, all the artillery of the West Artillery Battalion was dumb for a moment.

Looking at this scene, Frederick. Karl showed a smile on his face, and divided the artillery in his hand into four artillery battalions, one lured the enemy, and the other several carried out saturation shelling, and sure enough, it was effortlessly suppressed the artillery fire of the Qing army, he couldn't help but be secretly proud, on the flexible and intensive use of artillery, the Qing army was not their opponent at all, even if there was a more powerful heavy artillery, it could not play its due role in the night battle!

"The praying mantis catches the cicada, and the yellow finch follows." Wu Qingjiang, the commander of the 251st Brigade, said coldly: "Load the high-explosive bombs and knock out these two exposed artillery positions for me!" ”

With an order, dozens of 120 large-caliber mortars suddenly began to cover in an orderly manner!

Sensing that the artillery bombardment of the Qing army was coming from the rear, Frederick. Carl immediately realized that he had been ambushed, and his face suddenly became a little ugly, and James's face was also extremely pale, "The Qing army didn't reinforce Johannesburg?" ”

That's impossible! Even at this point, Frederick. Karl still didn't believe that Sanderton's Qing army would sit idly by and watch Johannesburg fall, and he muffled: "The Qing army should have increased its troops in the Transvaal a long time ago!" ”

James still had the heart to argue at the moment, urging him: "Your Highness, retreat!" ”

Fall back? Frederick. Karl's heart burst into flames, "This is a night battle, once you give the order to retreat, you will inevitably be defeated!" ”

Seeing that he refused to give the order to retreat, James couldn't help but be shocked and frightened, it was clear that the Qing army had calculated that they would attack at night, and had already set up an ambush to wait for them, and now it has formed a situation of internal and external attacks!

It is true that it is difficult to command a night battle, and once you retreat, you may be out of control, but at present, the defeat is decided, and you can escape one by one, otherwise you may repeat the mistake of the annihilation of the entire army of 6,000 forwards!

He didn't dare to say this openly, he knew very well the temperament of His Royal Highness, who was known as the 'Blood Prince', if he really wanted to say so, it might inspire the other party's determination to fight to the end, he really didn't dare to imagine what the consequences would be if the other party died in Standton?

After a slight sigh, he said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, at the current war situation, our army has fallen into the situation of the Qing army's internal and external attack, and the strength of the Qing army may exceed our expectations, so we must first clear the Qing army on the periphery!" ”

Sweeping the Qing army on the periphery? Frederick. Carl glanced at him coldly, how could the Qing army on the periphery be so easy to sweep? Now that three of the four artillery battalions have been lost, without the cover of artillery, how many lives do it take to sweep the Qing army on the periphery under this unobstructed and flat terrain? Not to mention the artillery of the Qing army, that is, the Makqin machine gun, it is enough to cause unbearable casualties!

https:

Genius one second to remember the address of this site:. Mobile version reading URL: m.