Guan Zhuofan was secretly proud in his heart: I have broken my own record again - this time not only did not fire a single shot on the frontal battlefield, but also did not fire a single shot.

But Rao is Guan Zhuofan thought that he was expecting the enemy to take the lead, but he still failed to catch the southern army.

In fact, after swallowing the rest of the breakfast in a few bites, Johnston began to prepare with a red heart. Byford? As soon as news of Forrestal's defeat arrived, Johnston ordered a retreat, and by this time the Confederate army had already been restrained.

Therefore, although the north and south received the results of the cavalry duel almost simultaneously, Johnston's hands and feet were still one step faster than the triumphant Commander-in-Chief Guan and the suspicious Commander-in-Chief Xie.

Moreover, the rearguard units of the Southern Army had planted explosives in advance on all the roads they had to pass, whether they were carriage roads or railroads, and they were detonated as soon as the main force passed. What was left for the pursuing troops of the Northern Army were man-made landslides and deep pits that appeared out of thin air, trees in the middle of the road, and bridges broken in two.

The sappers of the Yugoslav army even blew a gap in the embankment of a river, and although the amount of water was not very large, there were many lakes and ponds on the ground, and there was a flooded country within a radius of several miles.

The Left Route Army and the Right Route Army of the Northern Army divided their troops to pursue, and soon they were separated, and the progress of the Sherman Division far exceeded that of Guan Zhuofan's Division. The Xuan army did not have a formed engineering unit at all, and the sappers of the Kumbran Legion were far inferior to the Sherman Division, and the pursuing troops spent most of their time sitting on the side of the road, waiting for the road to be opened in front.

This incident gave Guan Zhuofan a great stimulus, and he built this unit and that unit by himself, and repeatedly praised the industrial capacity of the United States. Why didn't you think about creating a real modern chemical corps? Of course, it is impossible to reach the level of Sherman in a short period of time -- China does not have the industrial supporting capacity of the United States. But you have to do it step by step.

Modernized warfare. Without decent sappers, what do you think?

After playing Atalanta, you have to work on this thing.

Sherman chased very hard, the Battle of Dorton and the Battle of Salka were basically fought by the Left Army, and the Right Army did nothing except build two bridges, how could this be done?

Finally. The Newtonian division, which was in the vanguard of the Shebe, near Aratuna, caught up with Johnston's rearguard troops.

Unexpectedly, instead of panicking, this Southern army turned its head and bit Newton's division fiercely.

In fact, the southern army has been holding back for a long time, Dalton and Salka have not fought a decent battle, so they retreated again and again, as if they were driven ducks by others, and they have already nested a fire in their stomachs. Seeing that the pursuers were only one division, this rearguard unit shouted together: Give the North Yankees a little color!

Newton's division did not expect that this Southern army did not have the demeanor of a defeated army at all. A large area of gray, howling, pounced like a wolf, caught off guard, suffered a little loss, and had no choice but to retreat.

By the time Xie Bu's brigade caught up, the southern army had already left.

Sherman was so angry that he couldn't chase anymore, because he found that the chase was too fast, the supply line was too long, and the supplies couldn't keep up.

The railway line from Salka to Aratuna had been completely destroyed by the joint efforts of the northern and southern armies, and Sherman's sappers had to take a considerable amount of time to repair this line, after all, it was not a dozen meters of railroad tracks, but dozens of miles of railway.

Guan Zhuofan finally arrived out of breath, and after discussing it, the two commanders-in-chief decided to set up camp on the spot, build railways, and wait for supplies.

It was also decided that after taking Aratuna, he would use Aratuna as a secondary supply base for advancing to Atlanta.

The defeat of Newton's division made Guan Zhuofan very vigilant, and he felt that the previous battles of Dorton and Saleka had faintly bred the contempt for the enemy before the Battle of Chattanooga.

Although the Southern Army was "defeated," Johnston was always able to break away from large-scale contact with the Northern Army in a timely manner, and the overall combat strength of the Southern Army did not suffer any substantial losses. If they advance quickly, they will have the advantage in time, but if they fail to find an opportunity to deal a major blow to the Confederate army along the way, they will be allowed to retreat to Atlanta, and then the offensive and defensive battles in Atlanta will be very hard.

After all, Atlanta's defensive structure, system, and volume are not comparable to Dalton and Salka.

Also, although Johnston is good at managing the army, his campaign command is dull, and the battle line of the Northern Army is getting longer and longer in the process of pursuit, and many flaws have been exposed. A figure like Li is likely to seize the fighter plane and set up an ambush in a suitable place, and the Northern Army will suffer more than one Newton division.

The arrogant army will be defeated, and the alarm bell must be ringing at all times.

Work was being carried out around the clock to repair the railway, counting the dates, and new supplies would arrive in time for the Battle of Aratuna.

Guan Zhuofan and Sherman repeatedly observed and studied the geography of Aratuna and the defensive posture of the Southern Army.

The northeast, east, southeast, south, and southwest of Aratuna are surrounded by hills, and the northwest direction facing the northern army is relatively open, but this openness is a process of slowly rising from the northwest to the southeast, and the northern army attackes, to a certain extent, it is also regarded as an upward attack.

Needless to say, the fortifications of the Southern Army were so strong, and with this kind of terrain made in heaven, it was a nightmare for the attacking side.

Kwan Zhuofan sighed: Johnston really knows how to choose places.

Is there a possibility of repeating Dalton and Saleka's old tricks?

Basically impossible.

The Saleka move was definitely out of play, and the cavalry could not move in the complex mountains; What about Dalton's trick? It's also difficult. Not to mention that the Southern Army had already been in full position in all directions, and in the existing intelligence materials of the Northern Army, there was no suitable route that could be used for a large-scale detour.

This time we really had to attack head-on.

In Johnston's telescope, the Northern Army is digging trenches, digging in both left and right directions, and there is a lot of movement.

He was a little puzzled: there is nothing unusual about digging trenches, but the Northern Army, as the attacking party, is digging trenches and confronting each other with such a large amount of construction, but isn't this the heart of the Southern Army? What does it mean for the Northern Army?

Can't you want to besiege Aratuna? I didn't hear that I could surround the enemy with just one direction, and I was staring at the other three directions.

The next day, something was wrong.

Overnight, the trenches of the Northern Army frantically "grew," but instead of "growing horizontally" in the northeast-southwest direction, they extended from the positions of the Northern Army to the positions of the Southern Army.

Old General Johnston's cold sweat flowed down again, and he understood what the North wanted to do.

What to do?

Fire!

The trenches of the Northern Army did not extend straight over, but twisted around on the ground like earthworms, and solid bullets fell to the ground, bouncing all the way, and most of them could not enter the trenches at all, and could not cause any decent damage.

Swap out the bullets!

Theoretically, the shrapnel of the flowering bullet can fly into the trench from the air, but the trench is narrow, and only a small part can really fly in, and because of the angle, the probability of being hit by the soldier in the trench is very small as long as the cat is low.

Many shells were knocked out, and the pace of the Northern army's trench excavation did not slow down significantly.

Moreover, it is daytime, and at night, as you can imagine, the rate of advance will be much faster, as it was last night.

By the time the trenches of the Northern Army were dug in front of them, a single charge could enter the camp of the Southern Army, and by that time, it would be too late to do anything.

This situation is what Guan Zhuofan said before the war, "Now that I have the most intelligent engineering unit in the whole federation, I can also dig trenches".

Of course, not all sappers dig trenches, and the jishu content of this work is not very high, so the sappers are responsible for guidance.

The Southern Army was dispatched, and an endless stream of soldiers rushed out of the fortifications.

The artillery of the Northern Army has long been waiting for this moment. The three hundred cannons of the left and right armies roared in unison, and the soldiers of the Southern Army, who had lost the protection of the strong fortifications, broke their limbs in the smoke of gunpowder, and their flesh and blood flew everywhere, from the position of the Southern Army to the front of the trenches of the Northern Army, this piece of death zone originally prepared for the Northern Army became a killing field for the Southern Army.

The Confederates could not bear it and failed to approach the trenches of the Northern army, and retreated, leaving behind a field of mutilated limbs and screams of death if they could not get to death for a while.

Johnston gritted his teeth: Wait for the evening.

The trenches of the Northern Army were still stretching forward.

Night fell, and under the cover of night, the Southern Army finally managed to approach the trenches of the Northern Army.

*(To be continued......)