CHAPTER XXXIV

Yoshimasa Oshima smiled grimly, and watched coldly as the Japanese army rushed into the woods, waiting for the Japanese army to encircle and annihilate the Qing army in triumph. At first, you could still hear the sparse sound of gunfire, but after a while, you could barely hear it. Oshima Yoshimasa wondered for a while in his heart, what was going on, they wiped out the remaining Qing army so quickly? No, if this Qing army was so easy to destroy, it wouldn't have caused so much trouble to itself. What's going on?

Yoshimasa Oshima was puzzled, and the Japanese troops in the mountains and forests had begun to withdraw one after another. Oshima Yoshimasa asked, "Why, the Qing army was annihilated so quickly?" ”

Xiao Zuoyousan, the leader of the detachment, ran over, kept his body, and replied: "Report to Your Excellency General, this battle, annihilated a total of 14 Qing troops, this Qing army's resistance is very tenacious, it should be because of the wounded who were injured by artillery fire, and the wounded who were unable to move were responsible for the break, when we approached them, four of them were still alive, and they committed suicide by drinking bullets." Not a single one surrendered, all of them were killed. Our troops lost three people and eight were wounded. The rest of the Qing army had already fled into the depths of the mountains and forests, and we chased after it, but we didn't catch up, and came back to restore our lives! ”

Oshima Yoshimasa replied coldly: "Based on the previous battles, we speculated that the other side should have sixty or seventy people, and we used heavy machine guns and even large-caliber mountain artillery, and sent two hundred people into the mountains and forests to encircle and annihilate. With so much effort, you've only killed fourteen people, and you haven't left a single one alive to provide us with information. ”

"A bunch of rubbish! Shame on you Imperial soldiers! Oshima Yoshimasa suddenly became furious, raised his horsewhip, and whipped it fiercely at Xiao Sayusan. When he landed, there were several bloody wounds on Xiao Sayousan's face, and Xiao Sayousan lowered his head, enduring the pain and did not dare to move.

Seto Motoyoshi hurriedly came up and dissuaded: "Your Excellency, punishing Kosa Yuzo now will not help you occupy it. Although this battle did not wipe out the Qing army, but it did kill more than a dozen people, I think such an elite force, the entire Qing country is just like this, there is no second one, otherwise, our intelligence agencies would have sent intelligence information a long time ago. A dozen people will also cause huge losses to them, so for now, we should still speed up our march and continue to pursue the main force of the Qing army. ”

Oshima Yoshimasa sighed and said: "With Nie Shicheng's strategy, I'm afraid I won't be entangled by our army's cavalry for too long, and now if I continue to chase, can I catch up, but it's hard to say, I can only do my best to obey the fate of heaven, and order the whole army to continue to advance at full speed, and be sure to arrive before noon tomorrow!" ”

The next day, before dawn, Nie Shicheng's main force converged with the deputy middle battalion and part of the ambush led by Zhao Shixiao, repelled the entanglement of the Japanese cavalry, and finally arrived nearly ten miles away from the city. Nie Shichang breathed a long sigh of relief, and ordered the troops to temporarily pause, take a short rest, and after two consecutive days and two nights of rapid marching, the soldiers under his command were already exhausted.

After a short time, the quartermaster Feng He, Li Gang, Zhao Shixiao and others surrounded him, Li Gang's left arm was injured and injured, and now it was fixed with a wooden board again, looking depressed. Feng He arched his hand towards Nie Shicheng and said, "Lord Junmen, after two days of fierce fighting, our army has suffered hundreds of casualties, especially the vitality of the Guards Battalion, which is now less than five hundred. ”

Nie Shicheng nodded when he heard this, and the deputy middle battalion went to entangle the Japanese cavalry with similar strength, on the plain, with heavy losses, it was expected, Nie Shicheng's face was miserable, this is the elite soldiers he has built for decades, each of them is the elite of a hundred battles, this stop, I don't know how many people can follow him back to his hometown.

Nie Shicheng sighed and said: "Alas, this battle was lost too much, I, Nie Shicheng, fought in the south and in the north, how could I have suffered such a big loss, Ye Zhichao misled the country!" I don't know what happened to Zhang Yi's kid, the main force of the Japanese army is as many as thousands, and he only relies on his reconnaissance battalion of 100 people to block the main force of the Japanese army, alas, I hope the emperor will protect him and let him return safely. ”

Li Gang on the side said in a low voice: "Don't worry, Zhang Yi's kid is both civil and military, in terms of martial arts alone, we won't lose too much to him, but compared to the sense of smell and survivability on the battlefield, as well as marching and fighting, I'm afraid that we have a few pipe bands tied together, and they may not be his opponents, and the blue wolf brigade is the elite of the elite, presumably even if there are casualties, it will not shake the foundation, as for Zhang Yi, that kid is fine, he can't die!" ”

While everyone was talking, suddenly a sentry commander exclaimed: "Lord Junmen, look, a large cloud of dust has been raised in the distance! ”

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, and they raised their eyes, and sure enough, in the southwest direction, a piece of dust was flying, and the neighing of war horses was heard in the distance. Everyone's faces changed greatly, and Li Gang shouted: "Order, the heavy machine gun team is assembled, the defense is arranged, and the battle is ready!" Suddenly, the centaurs began to act.

At the same time, Nie Shicheng shouted: "Take my telescope!" The guard handed over the binoculars, Nie Shicheng held it in his hand, and looked into the distance, his brows tightened, what was going on? There are indeed people running in the distance, and they are faintly unclear, but it seems that there are only more than ten people, and there are quite a few war horses, estimated to be more than 100.

Nie Shicheng muttered: "It's strange, why is there only a war horse in this force, and there are only more than ten people following?" ”

Several commanders also picked up binoculars to watch, and Zhao Shixiao suddenly shouted: "My lord, that's our cavalry, and those people are wearing the costumes of the Qing army!" ”

Nie Shicheng exclaimed: "Our cavalry? Isn't it Zhang Yi's blue wolf brigade? ”

A few people were puzzled, and the people and horses in the distance had gradually come closer and listened. The leader shouted, "Is it Nie Junmen ahead?" The subordinate is Zhang Yihu, the captain of the fourth detachment of the reconnaissance battalion! ”

Zhao Shixiao said: "It's Zhang Yihu, if it's really him, the guy who went out of our third battalion!" After that, he shouted: "Zhang Yihu, I'm Zhao Shixiao, Lord Junmen ordered you to come and answer!" ”

Zhang Yihu urged the war horse, ran in front of Nie Shicheng, jumped off the war horse, and knelt down on one knee to pay homage to Nie Shicheng.

Nie Shicheng looked at so many empty war horses, and there was a faint hint of discomfort in his heart, waved his hand, and said, "Zhang Yihu, don't be polite, how can you appear here, and there are so many horses from flight attendants?" What about your rulers? ”

Zhang Yihu bowed down and replied, "Lord Junmen, yesterday afternoon, when we organized the fourth sneak attack, Commander Zhang ordered me to lead ten brothers with all the horses to make a detour to Kaesong, and camp in the southwest of Kaesong, waiting for him to join us. At the same time, he led the other brothers into the mountains and forests on the side of the road, intending to use the cover of the mountains and forests to continue to block the main force of the Japanese army, but it was difficult for horses to move in the mountains and forests, so I was asked to withdraw first. ”

"Oops!" Nie Shicheng was so anxious that he stomped his feet again and again, confused Zhang Yi, now the main force of the Japanese army has nearly 4,000 people, and there are hundreds of cavalry attacking us in front, you are only a few dozen, once you abandon your horses and are surrounded by the Japanese army, it will be difficult to fly. The commanders were also so anxious that they beat their chests.

Zhao Shixiao said: "My lord, it seems that it is necessary to organize a team of men and horses to meet Zhang Yi, this is too dangerous, and my subordinates are willing to lead a team of people to meet them." ”

Nie Shichang sighed and said: "No need, six or seven hours have passed now, if Zhang Yi is really trapped, it is estimated that the entire army has already been wiped out, even if there are still a few people, how can you lead hundreds of people to rescue people?" There are thousands of Japanese troops there, and there are hundreds of cavalry, and you will die in vain if you go......"

Li Gang hurriedly said: "My lord, then should we just leave it alone?" ”

Nie Shicheng replied: "Now I can only resign myself to fate, I just hope that Zhang Yi, this kid, has made careful arrangements for the back road before acting, and a few can come back." ”

Zhang Yihu was a little puzzled, and said: "Lord Junmen, my lords, Commander Zhang should not be in danger." This road is surrounded by mountains and forests on one side and plains on the other, and if they are on the plains, they may not be able to escape, but in the mountains and forests, no matter how many Oriental devils there are, I am afraid they will not be able to help us. Can the cavalry enter the mountains and forests? As for the infantry, if our subordinates boast about it, with our kung fu, even if we put four legs on those devils, it will not be able to catch up with our brothers! This is not Zhang Yihu's bragging, Zhang Yi's focus on training them in the past few months is jungle warfare, where do ordinary Japanese soldiers have their skills and speed.

Nie Shicheng glared at Zhang Yihu and said angrily: "Confused, what if the Japanese army uses mountain artillery to bombard during the sneak attack?" ”