Oshima Yoshimasa's face turned pale, and he roared hatefully: "Order the whole army to retreat, the first brigade quickly supports the retreat of Yamaichin's troops, and after the second brigade is broken off with the machine gun, the rest of the subordinates slowly retreat!" ”

"Hay!" The subordinates around him hurriedly agreed and began to direct the Japanese army to retreat.

Li Gang and Zhang Yi on the hill met together, and the two of them breathed a sigh of relief. Li Gang looked at the deputy middle battalion around him, after a battle, there were only more than 300 people left, and nearly half of them were killed and wounded, this is the most elite main battalion under the military gate. Li Gang's heart was dripping blood, and he was about to order someone to pursue, Zhang Yi waved his hand and said: "Brother Li, the Japanese army is well guarded and the formation is not chaotic, and now the pursuit cannot take advantage." The fierce battle in the southern camp is in full swing, and the military gate is important, so we hurry back to help! ”

Li Gang's heart was cold, and he understood that what Zhang Yi said was right, he led more than 600 people to block the Japanese army at once, and there were only less than 2,000 people left in the base camp.

Li Gang nodded and shouted around: "Leave ten people to take care of the seriously wounded, and the rest will immediately return to the camp at the southern foothills!" ”

At this time, the southern camp was still fighting fiercely, Nie Shicheng originally planned to trap the enemy on three sides, and planned to hit the Oriental devils hard in one fell swoop, but unexpectedly, the waste-like Ye Zhichao didn't even survive half an hour, and he was beaten to the ground, and the Japanese army that raided the northern camp took advantage of the situation to enter the southern foot of Yashan, and the southern camp faced the embarrassment of being surrounded. He had to transfer his most trusted deputy lieutenant battalion to block the Japanese army in the north. Suddenly, the strength of the large battalion weakened, and it was impossible to encircle and annihilate the Japanese army, so he had to order the ambush troops on both flanks to shrink back, concentrate their forces, occupy a favorable position, and fight a decisive battle with the Japanese army.

On the opposite side, Shan Yizuo saw that the firepower of the Qing army had weakened a lot, and knew that the Japanese army at the northern foot had succeeded in a sneak attack, and he was overjoyed, and ordered the whole army to violently attack the Qing army's position, and the two sides directly launched a white-knuckle battle in front of the hillside, Nie Shicheng's hard-trained cavalry had already been exhausted, and the Japanese cavalry brigade was also seriously damaged, and was transferred back to rest by Shan Yizuo, and the two sides started a fierce battle at the bottom of the mountain.

Seeing that Oshima Yoshimasa had won the victory at the northern foot of Asan Mountain, Yamaichi Osa ordered a continuous onslaught as if he were crazy, and the shells poured down on the positions of the Qing army. The Qing army did not show weakness, occupied a favorable position, and fiercely carried out a counterattack, and the narrow mountainside was bombarded beyond recognition by artillery fire from both sides. Now Nie Shicheng is also difficult to ride a tiger, if he does not repel the Japanese army in front of him, once Oshima Yoshimasa's department breaks through the defense of the pro-guard battalion, he will be attacked by the enemy on his own back, and the whole army will definitely be annihilated, and now the forwards of both sides have been strangled together, and if they want to retreat, they will definitely be slaughtered by the enemy army from behind one by one.

Nie Shicheng looked at the Japanese army in front of him who were fighting to the death and did not retreat, and hesitated several times in his heart, wanting to withdraw the army, but he gritted his teeth and survived, and he couldn't withdraw! Once the troops are withdrawn, not only himself, but also Li Gang's deputy lieutenant battalion will also be here. Now we can only hope for Zhang Yi, hoping that he can return to the reinforcements in time and give the Japanese army a moment from behind, so as to solve the current crisis.

When the battle between the two sides was fierce, a few war horses ran quickly behind the Japanese army, directly entered the Japanese position, and shouted: "Your Excellency Shanyi, Your Excellency the General has issued an order, the Qing army's support is about to arrive, and you are ordered to quickly organize a retreat and preserve your strength!" ”

Shan Yizuo shouted angrily: "Yaga! Now that our army has been mixed up with the Qing army, how can we withdraw our troops in a hurry? ”

The herald said: "Your Excellency Dazuo, Your Excellency the General has sent some reinforcements to respond, the Qing army has suffered serious losses, and will not dare to send troops to pursue, Your Excellency Dazuo still quickly withdraws the troops, once surrounded by the Qing army, it will be difficult to retreat." ”

Shan Yizuo was full of unwillingness, roared fiercely, and shouted: "Order the troops, the front army covers, the rear army becomes the front army, and retreat immediately." ”

Suddenly, the signal of the Japanese retreat came out, the Japanese army began to retreat, Nie Shicheng saw that the Japanese army was retreating, in an orderly manner, his own side suffered heavy losses, and he did not dare to send troops to pursue, so he hurriedly reorganized the men, treated the wounded, and cleaned up the battlefield.

After this battle, Nie Shicheng counted the men and horses, and his four battalions were already less than 1,500 people, and he didn't know what the casualties of the deputy middle battalion were, but even if the losses were small, he would definitely not exceed 2,000 people, at least a thousand brothers threw their lives here. Nie Shicheng's heart ached, and he was resentful in his heart, Ye Zhichao, this waste, a force of 3,000 people, was beaten in less than half an hour, it was 3,000 pigs, and the Japanese army didn't clean it up so quickly, and a general was incapable of exhausting thousands of troops! I must send a letter to Lord Zhongtang to seek justice for my brothers!

While thinking about it, Li Gang and Zhang Yi led the deputy middle battalion and the blue wolf brigade to withdraw back, came to the camp, and saw the military gate.

Nie Shicheng's face was heavy and asked, "You two fought today, how about the losses?" ”

Li Gang sighed and replied: "Lord Junmen, the Japanese army is well-trained and not afraid of death, it is really too difficult to fight. He had never encountered such a fierce army, and even when he was fighting the French, he had never been so tragic as he is today. Although the French artillery fire was fierce, the soldiers were indeed very afraid of death, and the Japanese soldiers were not only sharp in artillery fire, but also fearless of death, and after this battle, the brothers of the personal guard battalion lost nearly half of ......"

Nie Shichang sighed and looked at Zhang Yi.

Zhang Yi replied: "Lord Junmen, there is no damage in our department, but when the cavalry of the Oriental devils clashed, more than ten brothers suffered some flesh wounds, and when they returned to the reinforcement army to rush into battle, more than ten brothers were injured by stray bullets, fortunately, there was no major problem, and after some time, they healed naturally." In addition, the grain, grass and ammunition stored by the Japanese army in the camp have all been burned by us. ”

Nie Shicheng sighed and said: "This battle is thanks to you, if you hadn't succeeded in sneaking up on the Japanese battalion first, returning to the guard battalion, and repelling Oshima Yoshimasa, I'm afraid that our army will really be more auspicious this time." ”

Zhang Yi smiled bitterly and said: "The military gate is wrongly praised, and the mark is not careful, if it is not that the fire is too big, I am afraid that the Japanese army has already all returned to help, that is, my fire is too big, so Oshima Yoshimasa is desperate, and the onslaught does not stop, so that our army suffers from the enemy and suffers heavy losses." ”

Nie Shicheng waved his hand and replied: "It's none of your business, Ye Zhichao's troops fled without a fight, nearly 3,000 people, as soon as the battle began, they all collapsed, our army is weak, how can it not be the opponent of the Japanese army, it is already a good result." After all, the Japanese casualties were also nearly 2,000. ”

Li Gang frowned and said: "My lord, now I'm just afraid that the situation is a little bad, our army's baggage is mostly stored in the gourd mouth, guarded by Ye Zhichao's department, Ye Bu fled in a battle, almost all the baggage fell into the hands of the Japanese army, and our army's ammunition is running out." Even if Zhang Yi burned all their supplies, they still had a large amount of supplies captured from the Beida camp......"

Nie Shicheng came to the map and said: "Now, our army has suffered great losses, and in the area of Asan and Chenghuanyi, it has been isolated and helpless, and the Japanese army is strong. Now that Seoul has been controlled by the Japanese army, I think Ye Zhichao will not dare to enter Seoul in a rout, collect the defeated troops, retreat north, and if he guesses correctly, he will directly withdraw to Pyongyang and wait for domestic reinforcements, so that our army can only withdraw into Pyongyang together. ”

Zhang Yi replied: "Lord Junmen, my subordinates think that withdrawing to Pyongyang is definitely not the best policy, Pyongyang is too close to our Qing border, once the war changes, the imperial court has no time to respond, the Japanese army can drive straight into the three provinces outside the Guanwai, and then it will be ruined." ”

Nie Shicheng frowned and asked, "What about your opinion?" ”

Zhang Yi replied: "Lord Junmen, from Seoul to the north, to Pyongyang, Kaesong is the only way to go, and Kaesong is still under my control, Admiral Ye will inevitably return to settle there, and then continue to defeat to the north and return to Pingran to wait for help." For now, we can only quickly pack up our camp, catch up with Admiral Ye from behind before Admiral Ye arrives at Kaesong, and ask Admiral Ye to defend Kaesong with us and wait for domestic reinforcements. ”

Li Gang nodded and said: "Lord Junmen, what Zhang Yi said is quite reasonable, in Kaecheng, we can also replenish the baggage and ammunition nearby, and defend the city by refusing to defend it, I believe we will be able to hold out until the arrival of domestic reinforcements." ”

Nie Shicheng punched hard and said, "Okay, according to your plan, rectify the camp today, and tomorrow morning, the army will quickly go north and rush to Kaesong!" Zhang Yi, after you lead the blue wolf brigade to break off, if the Japanese army pursues you, you only want to stop the enemy, you must preserve your combat strength, in order to fight the enemy in the future! ”