A.D. 1864, March 29 of the fourth year of Qing Qixiang, is another day destined to go down in history.

On this day, the southeast wind blows on the land of Shenyang, the wind is not strong, just can blow people warm, the sky is cloudy, the sun is shining but not dazzling, the clouds are numerous but not black, it is a good weather that is very suitable for outings and outdoor activities.

Tsarist Major General and Tsarist Russian Commander of the Puppet Manchurian Army Kazakevich also thought so, so at about nine o'clock in the morning of this day, Kazakevich pulled the main force of the Tsarist Russian army from Shenyang City to assemble outside the city, ready to engage in a large-scale outing and walk, and accompanied the Tsarist Russian army to move together, as well as the main force of the puppet Manchurian army led by the puppet Manchurian general Chonghou.

Chonghou originally did not plan to participate in this outing, but when he learned that the Russian army was going to send more than 8,000 troops, and Kazakevich was going to personally take the Cossack cavalry that was regarded as a treasure by the Russian army out of the city, Chonghou immediately changed his mind, not only agreed to personally lead the main force of 15,000 Qing troops out of the city, but also agreed to the request of the devil six against his will, and promised to accept the command of the Russian commander Kazakevich on the battlefield and unconditionally obey all orders of Kazakevich.

After the news of the outing of the Tsarist Russian army and the main force of the Qing army in Shenyang reached the nearby well-known scenic spot Dashiqiao, the Wu army tour group, which had already made a mess of this tourist attraction, immediately boiled, and the grassroots generals and soldiers rushed back to the team, the middle-level generals counted the heads and assembled the team, and the generals and senior civilian officials of the battalions gathered in the handsome tent to wait for Cao Yanzhong, the chief head of the Wu army tour group, to arrange the arrangement.

Finally waited for the enemy to dispatch the main force to fight a decisive battle with him, even if he was experienced on the battlefield such as Cao Yanzhong, he was inevitably a little nervous and excited, but after forcing himself to calm down, Cao Yanzhong still made various pre-war arrangements in an orderly manner, so careful that he didn't even forget to let the soldiers and civilians rush to make dry food torches, so as not to prolong the battle into the night. However, Cao Yanzhong was only cautious and meticulous in his pre-battle preparations, and his tactical arrangements were so bold that the generals were in an uproar - Cao Yanzhong actually decided to take only 11 battalions of 5,500 troops and the reinforced battalion of Wu Dadao to attack, and lined up in front of the Wu army's camp to meet the incoming enemy head-on!

"Second Brother Cao, isn't it too risky?" Qian Wei, who was arranged by Cao Yanzhong to stay in the camp, was the first to object, saying: "Our troops are already at a disadvantage, and the enemy is pouring into attack, our best choice should be to close the camp and hold on, first use the camp fortifications to consume part of the enemy's strength, and then seize the opportunity to launch a counterattack, how can we continue to divide the troops?" Send only half of the troops out of the camp to fight the enemy in the field? Doesn't this give the enemy a chance to break us all? ”

"Brother Qian, there is only one reason why I arranged it this way, and that is that I am afraid that the enemy will run away!"

Cao Yanzhong replied categorically, and said: "Hold on to the camp and wait until the time is ripe to launch a counterattack, this arrangement of tactics is indeed the most beneficial to us, but if we arrange it this way, it will also be very beneficial to the enemy's escape, as long as we see that the situation is not right, the enemy will definitely flee immediately." And what is certain is that the first to rush up to fight a war of attrition with us will definitely be the rebel army, and the Rakshasa foreign devils will definitely not make a move until the last moment! If we choose the defensive counterattack tactics of closing the camp and sticking to it, we are likely to miss the opportunity to annihilate the main force of the Rakshasa foreign devils in one fell swoop, and waste this opportunity for a decisive battle in the field that we have created with great difficulty! ”

"So ......." Speaking of this, Cao Yanzhong raised his voice and said loudly: "So we have only one choice, which is to give up the camp fortifications and go out of the camp battle, first completely defeat the incoming enemy in the field battle, and then counterattack in an all-round way and kill the main force of the Rakshasa foreign devils!" Create an opportunity for us to attack Shenyang City in the future! ”

"But ......." Qian Wei was still a little worried, and said: "But we only use half of our troops to fight the enemy, what if we can't gain the upper hand?" ”

"Don't worry about this money brother, since I dare to do this, of course I am sure." Cao Yanzhong smiled and said: "You just have to defend the camp with peace of mind, and be ready to send troops to help me hunt down the enemy's defeated soldiers after I win the field battle, and then you can rest assured that you can enjoy the appearance of our secret weapon in the camp." ”

Knowing that Wu Chaoyue had Cao Yanzhong had a secret arrangement, and seeing that Cao Yanzhong was so confident, Qian Wei didn't say anything more, nodded and said, "Okay, I'll wait to see you show your strength, second brother." But Second Brother Cao, don't blame me for speaking unlucky, if the war is unfavorable, you have to retreat to the camp when it's time to retreat, and I will cover your retreat with artillery fire. ”

Knowing that Qian Wei's reminder was also kind, Cao Yanzhong also nodded and agreed, and then Cao Yanzhong continued to transfer troops and send generals, first arranged forty breezed guns to accompany him out of the camp to fight, and carefully arranged the affairs of the troops left behind in the camp, and then announced that he would leave the camp in forty minutes to set up a formation, waiting for the Qing Russian coalition army to come over for a decisive battle. During this period, Li Hongzhang, who had long been unable to contain his itch, asked to accompany Cao Yanzhong to the battle, and went to the scene to witness the grand occasion of the decisive battle, and Cao Yanzhong also agreed.

According to the pre-war arrangement, six well-equipped elite battalions of the Wu army, one artillery battalion, one cavalry battalion, and two ordinary battalions of the Wu army, which had performed well in actual combat, as well as Cao Yanzhong's personal battalion, and Wu Chaoyue's personal battalion led by Wu Dadao, went out of the camp in turn to assemble in front of the big camp, and under the personal leadership of Cao Yanzhong, they marched southward and lined up in an open place four miles south of the big stone bridge to prepare for battle.

This is also the first appearance of Wu Chaoyue's pro-military battalion in the northeast battlefield, different from other Wu military camp teams, Wu Da led this Wu Chaoyue pro-military battalion has a strength of more than 800 people, including in addition to the cavalry with two sentinels, but also with a sentry of the chariot team, carrying 20 horses and horses to carry a solid carriage, the car is wrapped in canvas so sturdily that no one can see what is loaded on the car from the outside. At the same time, in addition to a large number of melee weapons such as pistols and grenades, the soldiers of this battalion also carried a mysterious rifle wrapped in canvas, which was as mysterious as a group of ghosts roaming the battlefield.

Unable to endure the torture of curiosity, Li Hongzhang once tried to ask Wu Dadao what Wu Jun's new weapon was, but unfortunately Wu Dada, who shouted every day to drink flower wine and Qinglou, had a stricter mouth than anyone else, shook his head and said: "Master Li, I'm really sorry, the young master has an explanation, in order to keep it secret, unless it is Cao Dashuai who ordered me to use a secret weapon, I am absolutely not allowed to leak a word to anyone." Otherwise, even if it was me, I wouldn't be able to escape the severe punishment of military law. ”

Knowing that although Wu Chaoyue and Wu Dadao were like siblings, they never spoiled Wu Dadao militarily, Li Hongzhang had no choice but to give up. At this time, Cao Yanzhong had also begun to arrange the formation, arranging a rather conservative large phalanx, sitting in the north and facing the south, and arranging two battalions of troops in each of the four directions, with Cao Yanzhong's pro-soldier battalion, cavalry battalion and Wu Dada's pro-soldier battalion in the center and serving as a strategic reserve. Of the 40 rear-loading rifled guns brought with the army, 20 were arranged in the south front of the Wu army's large phalanx, and the other 20 were arranged in the east and west directions of the left and right flanks.

After carefully observing Cao Yanzhong's arrangement, Li Hongzhang soon found that something was wrong—I don't know if it was Cao Yanzhong's negligence, but the two ordinary battalions of the Wu army, which were poorly equipped, were actually arranged by Cao Yanzhong on the east side of the left flank of the Wu army's formation, instead of being arranged in the relatively safe north rear. Therefore, even if he suspected that this was Cao Yanzhong's intention, out of the responsibility of a staff officer, Li Hongzhang still ran to Cao Yanzhong and raised questions, fearing that the left wing would become a breakthrough for the enemy.

Cao Yanzhong didn't answer Li Hongzhang's question, but just smiled and nodded to the Wu Dada camp team that was arranged on the left flank of the phalanx. Why did Cao Yanzhong trust his battalion so much? I regret it, when Weiting dragged me to Shanghai for group practice, I would have agreed at the time. ”

When the Wu army lined up the formation, the banner of the Qing and Russian coalition forces also appeared in the distance of the road, and the result was the same as Cao Yanzhong expected, the Tsarist Russian army really forced the Qing army to walk in front to prevent the Wu army from raiding, and after arriving at the battlefield, the Qing army was also in front, and the Russian army was in line behind the Qing army, and the Russian ace Cossack cavalry was at the end of the Qing and Russian coalition army, hiding in a place where even long-range heavy artillery could not hit.

About 20 minutes later, the Qing Russian coalition army lined up the array, forced by the Russian commander Kazakevich's request, the commander of the Qing army, Chonghou, while mobilizing the artillery of the accompanying army to come forward, concentrated fire on the front of the Wu army's formation, and on the other hand, divided two armies, carrying relatively light mountain splitting artillery to attack the left and right flanks of the Wu army's formation, firepower reconnaissance of the strength of the Wu army's various positions, and took the orders of the Qing army soldiers to find the weak points of the Wu army's defense for the Tsarist army.

About ten minutes later, the battle officially began, the Qing army had just moved the heavy artillery to the front of the formation, and before it had time to line up, Cao Yanzhong, who cherished the life of his non-commissioned officer, took the lead in ordering to fire, and twenty Wu army rear rifled guns were fired together, and twenty bitter acid shells were directly fired in one breath, and the shells roared and smashed into the Qing artillery position and exploded, shrapnel and flames sprayed together, and the Qing artillery who could not avoid it suddenly staggered, screaming continuously, and the Wu army's rear loading guns, which were convenient to load, fired unceremoniously one after another, The continuous blasting of picric acid shells did not give the Qing artillery a chance to calmly arrange the artillery. In addition, the Qing artillery lacked actual combat experience, and the action was even more chaotic under the cover of the Wu army's artillery fire.

The frontal firepower of the Wu army must be fierce and amazing, which even Chonghou, the commander of the Qing army who has not been on the battlefield very well, so Chonghou did not blame the clumsy performance of the self-army artillery, and patiently waited for the self-army artillery to hurriedly carry and arrange the artillery, while carefully observing the battle situation on both flanks.

The performance of the Qing army on the battlefield on both flanks also disappointed Chonghou, and before he could push the mountain splitting cannon to the range of the cannon, the Qing army outflanked from both flanks had already been overwhelmed by the Wu army's two-wing artillery fire, and suffered heavy casualties and had no gain.

Seeing this scene, the commander of the Russian army in the back, Kazakevich, was inevitably a little angry, and sent a small officer to run in front of Chonghou and yell, forcing Chonghou to strengthen the offensive and quickly start a hand-to-hand battle with the Wu army. Chonghou had no choice but to suppress his anger and issue an order, forcing the soldiers on both wings to step forward and fire at the Wu army's platoon guns, and at the same time send troops forward from the front to attack the front position of the Wu army's formation.

Chonghou's order is of course to let the Qing soldiers die in vain, and they can't resist the strict orders of Chonghou and the persecution of the supervising team, although the Qing army attacking from three ways has the courage to launch a charge, and desperately steps forward to close the distance with the Wu army's position under the fierce artillery fire of the Wu army, but it was first attacked by the Wu army's grenadiers, and was blown up into a chaotic formation, and then when he barely stepped forward, he was shot by the platoon guns of the Wu army's soldiers, screaming and falling in a pool of blood one after another, and few people were able to rush closer to the place, forced Wu Jun to use a revolver to make up for the leak, let alone forced Wu Jun to use a picric acid grenade.

By the way, for some reason, Cao Yanzhong did not let the elite battalion of the Wu army use the lying position to shoot, and the four elite battalions of the Wu army on the front and right flank, like the two ordinary battalions of the Wu army on the left flank, took turns shooting in a squatting position.

Although Cao Yanzhong's arrangement made the Wu soldiers pay some price for casualties, it also successfully attracted the attention of the Russian army. Kazakievich's deputy, Baranov, was the first to notice this and immediately reminded Kazakievic: "General Kazakiewicz, please note that the yellow-skinned monkeys did not let their soldiers shoot in a lying position today, as they did in yesterday's battle!" There's got to be a reason for that! ”

"My dear Baranov, of course I have found out about such an obvious situation." Kazakiewicz replied with a smile, and said with a slight frown: "But strange, why did the yellow-skinned monkey do this?" What is the reason for this? ”

It's too far away, even with a telescope, you can't see the guns in the hands of the Wu soldiers, Kazakievich and Baranov can't find any flaws for a while, but it doesn't matter, Kazakievich has a lot of cannon fodder in his hands now, and the telescope can't see clearly You can exchange the lives of the Qing soldiers with your eyes, and after sending a small officer to run in front of Chonghou and roar, Chonghou could only swallow his anger and continue to throw troops into the front, forcing Wu Jun to shoot back, Help the Tsarist Russian army find out the real reason why the Wu army refused to shoot in a lying position. At the same time, according to Kazakiewicz's order, Chonghou also sent a Qing army horse team to return to the rear of the Wu army to assault the Wu army's rear team and investigate the situation of the Wu army's rear team.

This time, the charge of the Qing army was still in vain, but because there were some experienced Russian veterans mixed with the Qing army to charge together, the special feature of the left flank of the Wu army was finally discovered by the Russian army - the main rifle used by the left flank of the Wu army was completely different from the Wu army camp teams in the other three directions!

The news was reported in front of Kazakevic, and Kazakevic, who had long suspected that there were not many elites in the Wu army, also strengthened his judgment, believing that Cao Yanzhong was slapping a swollen face and becoming fat, and in order to avoid exposing the weaknesses of the few elites, he took the initiative to give up the lying shooting tactics that gave him a headache. But even so, the cunning Kazakievich did not rush to make a big move, but trotted in front of a Tsarist army and ordered the leading Tsarist officer: "Vladimir, take your bastards and attack the left flank of the yellow-skinned monkey." ”

"Dear General Kazakiewicz, are you sure what you want me to do?" The Russian officer of the Tsarist army said with some surprise: "You should know very well that the bastards under my command are a group of hooligans who came to the East to venture and pan for gold, and they have not much time to enlist in the army, and they have no battlefield experience in large-scale operations?" ”

"It doesn't matter, the armies of the Great Russian Empire are invincible." Kazakiewicz smiled and said, "Go ahead, tell your bastards, if you can disrupt the queue of the yellow-skinned monkeys this time, after returning to Shengjing, I will allow each of them to find a Manchurian woman to spend the night in Shengjing City." ”

Seeing that Kazakevich insisted, the Russian officer named Vladimir no longer hesitated, and immediately announced the reward promised by Kazakevich, and the group of hooligans and scoundrels in Tsarist Russia under his command also immediately shook the sky with joy, and their morale was high, and soon the following team led by Vladimir walked out of the Russian army array and strode to the left flank of the Wu army.

In broad daylight, the field of vision was wide, and Cao Yanzhong and other generals of the Wu army of course quickly discovered the movements of the Tsarist Russian army, but Cao Yanzhong was not in a hurry to make adjustments, and asked Li Hongzhang next to him: "Lord Li, what do you think?" ”

"The fish came to see if there was a hidden hook in the bait." Li Hongzhang replied: "If we want the fish to open their mouths and swallow the hook, we have to do something more." ”

"How do you do this article?" Cao Yanzhong asked.

"If the humble position is not mistaken, this Rakshasa army that has come to take the lead will definitely not have good combat effectiveness, and with our two battalions on the left flank, it will definitely not be a big problem to defeat them." Li Hongzhang analyzed, and said: "After defeating them, make a fuss, as soon as the enemy retreats, we will immediately let our cavalry attack, chase and kill the Rakshasa rout, so that the Rakshasa commander suspects that we are bluffing, pretending to be tough, and covering up the truth that our left flank is not strong in combat and there are not many elites." ”

"Clever plan." Cao Yanzhong praised it, and said with a smile: "To say a word of conscience, fortunately, Lord Li, you are not a commander of the army, and the time to put into the account of the king of Zhennan is too short, otherwise, the position of the commander of the Northern Expedition will be done by me in that round?" ”

After saying it casually, Cao Yanzhong immediately sent an order to the cavalry battalion according to Li Hongzhang's suggestion, so that the cavalry battalion of the Wu army was ready to attack and kill the enemy. Li Hongzhang was a little dazed, and sighed in his heart: "It's not that the comfort pavilion hasn't given me a chance, and it has given me more than one chance, but it's a pity that I didn't catch it, it's a pity that I missed it all." ”