Compared with the gravel roads in Hubei Province, which are in good condition, Anhui is full of old rammed earth roads, and the rammed earth roads are pressed out by the wheels with a deep rut, because the road looks extremely muddy because of the relationship between the rains that have just fallen. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

On the muddy road, Alden horses pulled Western-style steel-wheeled carriages and struggled in the mud, even the righteous officers and soldiers who were known to march a hundred miles a day would look extremely tired, and the majestic hard-soled military boots would be hung with a thick layer of mud. They carried guns and walked on the side of the road, while carriages and gun carriages struggled on muddy rammed earth roads.

In the past two days, dozens of steam ships of various sizes have transported tens of thousands of volunteers to Jiangbei and Wuhu under the cover of the gunboats of the Yangtze River fleet, and now the area along the Yangtze River in Anhui is almost completely controlled by the rebels.

After the First Brigade with a total strength of more than 10,000 troops landed in Wuhu just yesterday, it began to advance towards Nanjing, and it was even more unstoppable along the way -- in fact, except for less than 2,000 Taiping troops in Dangtu County, most of the other Taiping troops followed Shi Da to the Northern Expedition, and the First Brigade did not encounter too stubborn resistance at all, and captured the cities along the way.

However, they did not take any rest, but handed over the captured city to the gendarmes, and then rushed to Nanking without stopping, and it was not until late at night that the soldiers who had been forcibly marching all the way were ordered to rest.

And the rest time is only four hours. Like other armies in the country, the rebels would never enter the villages and towns during the march, but camped directly in the field, connecting hundreds of horse-drawn carriages and artillery carriages into a "wall", and then tens of thousands of officers and soldiers set up tents in them, but because of today's time constraints, they did not set up tents, but spread their personal tarpaulins on the ground, and then slept directly on them.

The same was true for the soldiers, and the same was true for the officers, who spread two pale green tarpaulins on the ground as resting places for their brigade commanders and chiefs of staff.

After a night of rapid marching, the guards quickly fell asleep leaning against the trunks of the trees. He even snored incessantly with his head resting on his backpack.

Lin Yuqing, the commander of the First Brigade, and Li Shufu, the chief of staff, sat quietly on the rain cloth, without any sleep. Just half an hour earlier, the messenger had sent a telegram from the lord, who had asked them about the march. This is the second time that they have been asked when they will be able to reach Nanjing.

"What a damn dirt road!"

When I think of the march, the steps of the soldiers look so tired on the muddy road, and the movement of the troops is so slow, as if they are frozen on the dirt road. Seeing this scene, Lin Yuqing really wanted to whip the soldiers with a whip to urge them to speed up the march, but it was all because of the road!

"Now is the time when there is a lot of rain, those rammed earth roads have long been soaked and rotten, the wheels are pressed, the ruts will only be pressed deeper and deeper, people walk in the mud and sticky feet, in a word, when the Northern Expedition is in the future, I think that the waterway can be used as much as possible to waterways, as for the cities on both sides of the strait, it is more convenient to temporarily transfer troops from the ship than this land march, try to avoid rainy days, otherwise, on this road, even if you are tired of not dying, you can also be tired of horses!"

Yes, it is easy to tire out horses, compared to people, horses are more delicate, especially those imported Alden horses, although the strength is great, but also delicate, what is always a loss and a gain, although the domestic inferior horses are not so delicate, but the strength is too small. For the army, those horses are directly related to the combat effectiveness of the troops. After all, whether it is all kinds of war materials or artillery, it needs to pull horses. On such muddy roads, the horses pulling the carriage will only be more tired and more likely to be overtired.

The long-distance marching and fighting gave Lin Yuqing a certain amount of experience, which could not be obtained in past exercises, and it is precisely for this reason that the more important role of this Eastern Crusade for the righteous army is to "train the troops", find their own problems in this large-scale military training, and then solve them.

War has always been the best lesson for soldiers, just like when it comes to making a battle plan for the Eastern Crusade, not many people pay attention to the problem of roads, and now, through this lesson, everyone understands the impact of this primitive road on military operations.

"Otherwise, let's arrive in Nanjing with light troops first!"

Looking at the wagons that served as a defensive wall for the troops, the warriors standing there on guard could be seen on the carriage.

"Anyway, there is a fleet to provide fire support there, as long as our people can run to it first! As for the field artillery, if we can't bring it, we won't bring it, and it's just as enough to carry a mortar! ”

In addition to field artillery, the rebels also had mortars, and there were more than field artillery, each infantry battalion had three 80 mm mortars, the rate of fire was equivalent to dozens of field guns, and more importantly, it was light enough to even need people to carry when marching, of course, most of them were carried by military horses.

Li Shufu's words made Lin Yuqing think for a moment, and then he looked around again.

"Cheng, I think I can do this!"

As he spoke, he strode forward and pushed the guard, who was sleeping against the tree, twice:

"Sanzi, hurry up!"

"Brigadier Commander, what are you?"

"Without further ado, I'll leave now!"

When Li Shufu saw that he was about to act, he looked at him and said:

"Brigade commander, are you going to go out now? Shall we give the brothers two more hours of rest? ”

"I can't rest anymore!"

Lin Yuqing shook his head and said, tied the belt with the two revolvers around his waist, and then rolled up the rain cloth on the ground by himself, and began to prepare for departure.

"As the saying goes, the soldiers are fast, we are already so slow, in short, let's rush over first!"

"Brigadier Commander!"

Li Shufu said with a smile,

"Let's let the brothers rest and rest first, it is estimated that they will fall asleep at this time, just wake them up, even if we arrive at the city of Nanjing, we are tired and tired, I think it is better to let the brothers sleep for two more hours."

The chief of staff's words made Lin Yuqing frown slightly, he looked at the pocket watch, and then said.

"But ......"

"I think we can send out sharp soldiers first and reconnoiter along the way!"

"The staff officer of the second section is also going over!"

"Of course the intelligence staff is going too!"

The Second Brigade Staff Section is in charge of intelligence, so it is natural to follow first at this time.

"Well, I think we can send the cavalry battalion over first......"

In addition to two infantry regiments, the 1st Brigade also had a cavalry battalion as an opportunity to move forces.

"Send the cavalry battalion too!"

Lin Yuqing said in a long voice,

"This reconnaissance is really going to be done, but we have to let the cavalry open the road for us, and the cavalry battalion will follow first!"

A smile finally appeared on Li Shufu's face, which could be regarded as a kind of acquiescence.

Soon, a cavalry detachment consisting of the intelligence staff of the Second Section, a guide, and a brigade search company immediately rushed along the official road in the direction of Nanjing. Half an hour later, a cavalry battalion of more than 200 horses followed.

An hour after the departure of the cavalry battalion, with an order, the soldiers who had just woken up set out on the journey again after a simple breakfast.

It was early in the morning, and the weather was gray.

Along the way, you can see the fleeing refugees from time to time, which are the people who have fled from Jiangning Town. Through the light, you can clearly see their tired steps and anxious faces. The wooden wheels of the ox cart, slower than the footsteps of a man, clattered and made a jolting sound. A few women with small feet sat on the side of the road, gasping, wiping their sweat and looking nervously at the soldiers, although they knew that this army was a rebel army, but the fear of the soldiers still made people's faces look afraid.

On the side of the road, you can see some corpses, both the corpses of the people and the corpses of the Taiping army, many of which have gun holes and knife wounds on the corpses of the Taiping army, and they are very likely to have been attacked by cavalry. In the ravine on the side of the road, Lin Yuqing saw the corpse of a Taiping army, although the corpse was bloody, it could still be seen that it was only an eleven or twelve-year-old child at most.

"What a fucking bunch of livestock, why don't you pull a freshly weaned doll to be a soldier!"

Lin Yuqing, who was riding on a horse, looked at the corpse, he knew that the young man was hacked to death by the cavalry with a knife, on the battlefield, even a child was an enemy, but killing such a child made him not feel the slightest willingness to kill the enemy, and even only felt a thick depression, pressing the depression in his heart, and advancing with his legs between the horse's belly.

Soon, the troops passed through the deserted town of Jiangning, and on the streets of Jiangning town you could see the notice of peace posted on the wall when the cavalry company passed. Still, the town was deserted, and most of the people had fled in the past few years, and all they had encountered before was a few people hiding from the army.

"Brigade commander, crossing Jiangning Town is the Great Victory Pass,"

Almost 500 years ago, Zhu Yuanzhang set up an ambush here and defeated the attack of hundreds of thousands of troops of Chen Youliang, so he changed his name to Dashenggang and set up a pass here, that is, Dasheng Pass. It has been inherited to this day. The terrain here is very dangerous, and it has been Nanjing's river defense fortress and transit port since ancient times. It is also the first hard bone that the First Brigade needs to gnaw, after all, it is an obstacle for the First Brigade to attack Nanjing.

"At the beginning, Xiang Rong blocked more than 100,000 Taiping troops with his great victory, and built a Jiangnan camp with Xiaolingwei!"

When mentioning Xiaolingwei, Lin Yuqing's brows wrinkled violently, that Xiaoling is the mausoleum of Emperor Gaozu of the Ming Dynasty, which has been plagued by the Manchu Qing and Taiping Army for so many years, and I don't know what it looks like now. And the lord is still a descendant of the Zhu family, if he sees Xiaolingwei's appearance, how will he feel?

But this thought is only a fleeting thought, after all, there are more important things at the moment, as for Xiaoling...... Naturally, there will be other people to worry about, as for now, it is important to lay down Nanjing first.

"Big Victory Pass ......"

With this name in his mouth, Lin Yuqing raised the corners of his lips and said contemptuously.

"We are not long-haired, and long-haired is not Xiangrong! Win big today! ”

Continue to move forward for a few miles, the sound of cannons can be heard in the faint air, the sound of cannons is getting closer and closer, it is the cavalry company in the fierce battle with the big victory pass, the long-haired artillery set on the pass, constantly across the Qinhuai River to the opposite bank, the entire official road, filled with a strict atmosphere.

Riding a horse, Lin Yuqing led more than a dozen staff officers from the brigade headquarters to climb to the top of the mountain along the path. This is a typical Jiangnan hills, looking at it, there is a plain in front of the mountain, and the Qinhuai River is in the distance of the plain, and a hill, and Dashengguan is located in the hills.

Sun Yetao, the intelligence staff officer of the second section, pointed to the front and said:

"Brigade commander, that's a big victory. It is bordered by the east bank of the Yangtze River, and is about 15 kilometers away from Jubaomen. ”

I took out the telescope and looked at it, although the distance was not too far, but because it was shrouded in a wet fog, it was chaotic and chaotic, and I couldn't see it clearly at all. Every once in a while, three or four shells hit the official road, and the white smoke from the pass slowly rose, mingling with the low clouds.

“…… Originally, I tried to disguise myself as a cavalry of the Taiping Army to deceive the pass, but who knows, the military horse revealed our identity, and then we fought......"

The military horses of the cavalry of the rebel army are all a generation of horses improved with Arabian horses, although the body height, horsepower and other indices have not yet reached the standard, but they are far taller than ordinary Mongolian horses, and it is naturally impossible to pretend to be the cavalry of the Taiping army. What's more, compared to the cavalry of the Taiping Army, in addition to the difference in horses, their weapons are also different, the cavalry of the Righteous Army uses revolvers and Han-style cavalry, even if it is a knife, it is also a Western-style cavalry knife, in this case, it is really stupid to want to pretend to be the Taiping Army!

"Scam? Do you think it was the empty city that fought Wuchang back then? There are at least five or six thousand Taiping troops in this big victory, there are too many ants, bite the elephant to death, it's a shame that you can come up with it, and the books of the martial arts hall are all returned to the teacher, isn't it! ”

It is not clear whether he has returned it to the teacher Lin Yuqing, but he knows very well that this is simply the result of dead study, and it is also inevitable that he lacks combat experience, in fact, even he himself can't talk about how rich his experience is, after all, from the establishment of the righteous army to the present, the real hard battle, except for the battle of Huangzhou, has not fought any hard battle, as for the combat experience - the combat experience of the vast majority of troops is almost zero, and the experience of the vast majority of officers is also concentrated in the "classroom". In wargame deduction, it can be said that the head is the way, but it is difficult to learn and apply it.

It is precisely because of their lack of experience that they seem to be a little conformist, so that during the exercise, the battle plan formulated is only a script, without the slightest spirituality, but it is precisely because of this that they will not make mistakes, although this adventure failed, but it was more or less an attempt.

"Besides, if you want to disguise yourself as an enemy to cheat the pass, why don't you change horses? Don't replace the saber with a waist knife, this is the least common sense! ”

Leng Yan reprimanded, then Lin Yuqing put away the binoculars, thought for a moment, and then, turned around to the reconnaissance staff officer and said:

"Have you made contact with the fleet? If you want to fight Nanjing, you don't necessarily have to take a big victory to practice first! ”

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Fever, headache, cough, weakness, and worsening of colds...... I can't hold on to this sickness! Tragedy! There is only one change today, I hope you can understand. (To be continued.) )