The scout resisted the urge to mount his horse and chase down the remnants of the enemy, constantly changing positions in the waistless artemisia grass, and striking the horse bandits with rifles and grenadiers. The Beiyang Army came to the momentum, and they drew their foreign swords and galloped wildly, and the ghosts who were killed by the Mongolian horse bandits who were scattered cried wolf. The most ferocious was the Mongol who was protected in the center by the cavalry of the 20th Division, only to see that his horse was like a dragon and a sword like lightning, and he was invincible with one horse and two swords. There were no less than seven or eight horse bandits who were hacked to death by him alone. The horse he rode was not a low Mongolian horse, but an extremely strong Hequ jujube horse, which was extremely fast, and often the horse bandits had not had time to react, and he had already slashed his head. A moment later, the jujube flower horse was covered in blood, and it seemed that it was a demonic beast that had escaped from the river of hell blood.

What a fierce Mongolian man!

In the blink of an eye, more than half of the more than 100 bandits were killed, and the rest scattered and disappeared into the vast grassland.

The corner of Zhang Shuyang's mouth picked out a sneer: "Vulnerable!" ”

"Who saved us? Please show up! The man in the silk Mongolian robe shouted at Zhang Shuyang's hideout, and his voice was crisp and beautiful.

Zhang Shuyang listened to his accent with a strong Beijing accent, and it was estimated that he was a descendant of high-ranking officials and nobles in Eastern Mongolia. Eastern Mongolia has been restrained by the Manchu government for hundreds of years, and they are all old fritters in the officialdom, and they have long lost the pride of the steppe men. Mongolian Eight Banners and Full Eight Banners, Han Eight Banners like the cage frame bird is not a business, speaking of ticket plays, raising birds, fighting crickets one by one, can pull a hard bow to ride a fierce horse is not one in a hundred, like this Mongolian man is as skilled as a knife and horse is really extremely rare.

It's just that this voice is too soft, which is in stark contrast to the appearance of the two swords on the battlefield just now!

Zhang Shuyang whistled, took the scouts to turn over their horses, and ran out of the grass: "You are the brothers of the 20th Division, right?" We are the advance army of the conquest of Mongolia! ”

The surprise man in the Mongolian robe took off his hat and bowed: "You are the brother of the advance army?" We're here for you, please save us Tumut! ”

After taking off the hat, a green silk flowed down like water, and she looked like she was only seventeen or eighteen years old, but her height was more than one meter seven, almost to Zhang Shuyang's eyebrows, similar to that of a man of average stature. The shoulders are also much wider than the girls of the Central Plains, the waist is full of thin, the general round face of the grassland girl, the big and round eyes are pure like a clear spring, the eyebrows are thick, as if they are dyed with ink, the skin is not very white, the color of wheat, the average person who grows up on the back of the horse is the kind of looped legs, her two straight legs are very rare among the grassland women, and the length is surprising, the cut is very well-fitting tight leather robe will be the well-developed chest is set off by the peaks and peaks, undulating, reverie.

Zhang Shuyang didn't expect her to be such a beautiful Mongolian girl, but there was a heroic spirit between her eyebrows that no man could match.

"You're a woman?" Zhang Shuyang was dumbfounded.

A soldier of the Beiyang Army interjected: "This is the princess Wuyunzhu of the king of Tumut County, the official village of the county king was surrounded by the bastard of Wutai, the company commander sent us to protect the princess to break out of the siege and ask for help from the advance army, and I was chased by these wolf cubs all the way I couldn't breathe, fortunately I met you, otherwise we would all have to be reimbursed." ”

Zhang Shuyang nodded: "I'll take you to see the chief." ”

Wuyunzhu looked left and right, and asked curiously, "What about the rest of you?" Why don't you see your cannons? ”

Zhang Shuyang laughed: "Just a few of us." Then he pointed to the grenadier being disassembled: "That's our cannon." ”

Wuyunzhu sniffled and shook his long hair: "The chief is deceiving, this is not as big as the gun that my family released during the festival, and my family's official village also has cannons, don't fool me!" ”

Zhang Shuyang said with a smile: "Brothers, let the princess see it, don't let her think that we Han people like to lie." ”

The grenadier smiled and placed the grenadier, the co-shooter filled a grenade, and with a "pass", the grenade drew a parabola and flew two hundred meters away, then exploded into sixty-four fragments and flew into the tall grass.

Wuyunzhu was stunned: "This is really a cannon?" It's more powerful than the big bronze cannon in our official village! ”

In her impression, the big bronze cannon made by Dao Guangnian on the official village is the most powerful weapon, with a length of more than two zhang and a weight of more than 3,000 catties. But the explosion of that gadget just now seemed to be louder than a big brass cannon, how could it not make her tremble. Not to mention that the dark clouds have never seen it, and the Beiyang soldiers of the 20th Division have never seen the grenadiers, it was such an inconspicuous little thing that blew up the horse bandits just now.

The soldiers of the 20th Division looked at the steel helmets on the heads of the Jianghuai Army, the camouflage uniforms on their bodies, the Han style I rifles on their bodies, and then looked at the old Mauser whose rifling was worn out in his hands, and suddenly felt a serious sense of inferiority??? People are the army, and they are like Hanako with a gun.

In the vast grassland, the troops of the advance army set up camps, the soldiers cut down trees to build barriers, and the tent in the middle was the camp of the Chinese army in Kuang Haishan. The arrival of the dark cloud bead made the eyes of the officers shine, it is rare to see such a beautiful Mongolian girl on the steppe, and she is a real princess. Wuyunzhu's father is Zasak (the prince of the county) of Tumut, and it stands to reason that she is not qualified to be a princess. In the first year of Xuantong, in order to restrain Eastern Mongolia, the Qing court made an exception to make her the princess of Heshuo and enjoy the fortune of the county king. After the establishment of the Republic of China, the Yanjing Provisional Political Axe still recognized the titles of Mongolian princes and nobles.

"Can you be sure that Utai is in Tumut?" Kuang Haishan asked in a deep voice.

Wuyunzhu nodded and said: "I saw his royal flag, the four-clawed golden dragon flag, the guards of Utai are all Russian water beads, and I also have that gun, I can't be wrong!" ”

"How many of them are there?"

"I don't know, there are more cattle and sheep than on the grassland, and my father's official village is surrounded by water, so I ask the adults to send troops to rescue us Tumut!" Dark Cloud Bead pleaded bitterly.

"How many defenders did Tumut Khan's official village have? What about armament? Kuang Haishan turned his face and asked Beiyang Bingdao.

"Back to the commander, there is a company of our 20th division, as well as more than 300 Mongolian soldiers, more than 400 people who can hold guns, and two earthen cannons from the Daoguang period."

Kuang Haishan's brows locked, can that kind of thing that hits iron sand and solid bullets also be called cannons? With six or seven thousand fierce horse bandits under his command, and a Mongolian cavalry division supported by Jebtsundamba, with a total strength of nearly 20,000 and a large number of new weapons provided by the Russians, how could four hundred men in the Tumo Special Region defend the official village?

"My lord, my father Khan said that if you could save us Tumut, he would give you a thousand taels of gold, ten thousand taels of silver, a hundred camels, two thousand cattle and horses, ten thousand sheep, and twenty of the prettiest girls of the steppe??? If you dislike them for their humble background, I would like to make you a concubine, and I only ask you to send troops to rescue my father Khan!" Wuyunzhu was worried about his father who was trapped in the official village, and begged bitterly.

The staff officers of the advance army couldn't help but be happy, and they didn't dare to laugh, and their faces turned red.

Kuang Haishan slapped the table and said: "Nonsense, our advance army is the national defense force of the Republic of China, not bandits and bandits!" We went to Mongolia to maintain the unity of the country, not to rob property and beg for a little wife! ”

Feeling that his tone seemed to be too harsh, Kuang Haishan squeezed out a smile and said, "Okay, you are all tired and go down to rest first, and we will study the plan to rescue Tumut." ”

"Your Excellency!"

"Please princess go and rest first, we will definitely relieve Tumut!"

Wuyunzhu turned back three times step by step, and retreated pitifully, which made the staff officers a little unbearable, and they couldn't wait to send troops to rescue Tumut immediately.

The huge march map was laid out in the big tent of the Chinese army, and Kuang Haishan took the staff officers to study it carefully, and what made them puzzled was why Utai concentrated the main force to attack Tumut.

"Commander, is Utai planning to grab some food? Winter in Mongolia is particularly early! ”

"How many people are there in Tumut? It's not enough to grab it clean! ”

"At the end of the road, grab a little is a little!"

Kuang Haishan carefully looked at the map and asked, "Have you had a telegram from your hair in the past two days?" ”

"Nope!"

"I haven't received a telegram from Baotou for a few days?"

"It's been more than two days, and there used to be a telegram every day!"

Kuang Haishan's brows were twisted into the word "Sichuan": "Immediately, send electricity to the Beiyang garrison in Baotou, if there is no callback???

He was silent, and a serious problem was already in front of him.

A young staff officer exclaimed, "Wu Taiming repairs the plank road darkly Chen Cang? Want to attract our main force to Tumut, and then he takes the opportunity to attack Baotou? ”

Baotou is an important town in the west, is the largest transfer station of Jin merchants, almost all the big ticket numbers, money villages, and ticket numbers of the West Gang have branches here, especially the Qiao family of the largest Jin merchants "Dade Tong", which started in Baotou??? In the small city of Baotou, there are at least tens of millions of taels of silver and tea, furs, grain and other materials of inestimable value.

Once Baotou is taken by Wutai, he can hide in the depths of the desert with these materials, and it will be difficult to find his hiding place! In the vast grassland, as long as there is food and burning, where can his army not be hidden? It is extremely difficult to see the shadow of Wutai, let alone force him to flee to Manchuria like eastward!

Baotou is more than 300 miles away from Tumut, once the main force of the advance army is mobilized there, and if you want to rescue Baotou again, even if you advance with light cavalry, it will take a day and a night, and it will take at least three days for heavy weapons to be pulled under Baotou City.

The distance from Kuang Haishan's tent to Baotou is 280 li, and the distance to Tumut Khan's official village is less than 150 li.

Guessing that Wutai might attack Baotou, everyone was silent, everyone anxiously waited for Baotou's callback, and only the ticking sound of the pocket watch could be heard in the big tent, and after half an hour, there was still no response to Baotou City.

Kuang Haishan jumped up from the chair with a flick of his sleeves: "I can't wait any longer, the two battalions of the 1st Regiment, the Artillery Regiment and the 2nd Regiment are rushing to Baotou, and the other two battalions are going to support Tumut and keep in touch with the radio at any time!" ”

He paced back and forth in the tent, muttering, "I hope my judgment is wrong!" ”

(To be continued)