Qin Chuan looked in the direction of Loped's finger, and sure enough, he saw that Fengsheng's "duck egg soldiers" hastily packed up their tents and began to leave in a hurry on the way they came. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 infoBehind Fengsheng's "duck egg soldiers" is the Zuo Guifeng army that follows closely.

Qin Chuan looked at other camps, it was the same, but in these camps, because they were cleaned up carefully, they still had fences to be removed, and a large group of soldiers were still busy, and it seemed that they would have to evacuate immediately.

The situation under the mountain, Qin Chuan, who was looking straight at it, was dumbfounded.

"Could it be that because of the harassment of a small group of Japanese troops at night, some people were killed and wounded and had to be withdrawn?"

Qin Chuan was about to speak, but saw Gao Jishan's face gloomy, the boots on his feet stepped on the muddy ground, and he walked into the camp with a "click, click".

Without waiting for Qin Chuan to ask, Lopet had already asked anxiously one sentence after another in his loud voice.

"Mr. Gao's office, how many Japanese came last night?"

"Why did the army under the mountain all go back, could it be that they were afraid of being harassed by the Japanese?"

"Ugh."

Gao Jishan walked in front of Qin Chuan and the others, sighed heavily and said.

"What are the Japanese, after it started to rain last night, because the sight is not good, and the people in the army have never seen the Japanese, they are all a little nervous. A few Korean civilians who had returned from fishing were passing by in front of the camp in Bongjun, and when they heard the noise, the sentries shouted a few times, thinking that it was raining heavily and that it was just in time for the thunder, but the Korean people did not hear it, so they did not hear back. ”

"It's just that in this way, the sentry thought that the Japanese were touching the camp and opened fire. But as soon as they opened fire, the other battalions thought that the Japanese had killed them at night, so they all started shooting indiscriminately. As soon as the shots rang out everywhere, the people in the various battalions panicked, and they fought among themselves. No, I fought for more than an hour, and it wasn't until dawn that I realized that it was my own people who beat me. ”

Gao Jishan sighed again: "Before the Japanese saw the shadow, their own people were killed and injured more than 200 people. ”

Regarding the matter of each battalion under the mountain fighting on its own, although Qin Chuan felt helpless, there was no way.

The battalions of the Qing army were not subordinate to each other, and there was a lack of communication, and it was only a matter of time before such a thing happened. It's just that he was still a little surprised that the thousands of troops under the mountain withdrew after only such a small setback. This time to go to war, it was Guangxu's will and Li Hongzhang's telegram, and the following people were all openly and secretly either not expressing their position, or urging Ye Zhi to go out of the war, but now how can they say that the army will be withdrawn?

Where are these people still the commanders of the army on one side, it is simply a child's play with the war.

Qin Chuan asked Gao Jishan with some reluctance: "Because of such a misunderstanding, you have to withdraw the army?" ”

Seeing Qin Chuan smiling bitterly and taking out a cigarette, Gao Jishan, who had never smoked, reached out and snatched the cigarette in Qin Chuan's hand, Qin Chuan had no choice but to light a match for Gao Jishan to light the cigarette, Gao Jishan only took a puff, and immediately coughed loudly.

It took a while for Gao Jishan to breathe down, and the angry Gao Jishan shook his hand and threw the cigarette that he had only smoked into the muddy water.

Gao Jishan smiled bitterly and said to Qin Chuan: "It's not just because of this incident, just now President Ye sent someone from Pyongyang to send Li Zhongtang's urgent telegram. ”

"What emergency?" Wu Bingwen also hurriedly asked.

Gao Jishan frowned and said: "Li Zhongtang's urgent telegram is written like this: I plan to send more than 7,000 people to Zhonghe, and the camera is ready to meet the enemy, is it already possible?" Speculating on the enemy's situation, Yuanshan to Yangde can go all the way to my back, and the relationship is still important. The former e-commerce commander sent a team to block the attack, why not try to carve and suppress Huangzhou on this way? If I attack Huangzhou, and the Yangde enemy surrounds me, I will lose ground and suffer greatly. ”

Gao Jishan was afraid that Qin Chuan would not understand the meaning of Li Hongzhang's telegram for a while, so he said: "This telegram is to inform that we have learned that the Japanese army that has landed on the east coast of Korea is heading for Pyongyang, and that my army out of the city is afraid that the Japanese army will cut off the way back. Although Chungdo did not say it explicitly, everyone could understand the meaning of the telegram, and he still wanted the army to withdraw to Pyongyang. ”

Li Hongzhang, who was originally in Tianjin, actually knew that the Japanese Wonsan detachment was heading for Pyongyang, but Ye Zhichao, who was in North Korea, did not know, which shows how unbearable the Qing army was in intelligence gathering.

Qin Chuan felt bitter in his heart, and said in his heart: "Where is this!" It's a fucking mess. ”

Thinking of these Qing army commanders at the foot of the mountain, I am afraid that they have been discouraged after tossing and turning for a night last night, and when they see this telegram at this time, where will they insist on meeting the Japanese army, and it is even more impossible to intercept the enemy coming from Wonsan, so they will naturally push the boat down the river and withdraw the troops back to Pyongyang.

Thinking about it, the Qing army was almost unprepared for this battle, and fighting with the Japanese army would definitely not cause much damage to the Japanese army, and if it really wanted to withdraw to Pyongyang, it would be a good thing.

It's just that Qin Chuan is still a little unwilling.

Because he knew that the Japanese troops besieging Pyongyang were divided into four routes, and although the total strength was more than 16,000 men, the time of arrival in Pyongyang was not uniform. They were to face the 9th Brigade led by Yoshimasa Oshima, with more than 4,000 troops, and it was the first Japanese army to reach Pyongyang, as if on the 12th. The Wonsan detachment, which came from Wonsan in the northwest of Pyongyang, had more than 4,700 troops. The Sonyeong detachment, which besieged northeastern Pyongyang, numbered more than 2,000 people. The arrival time of the Wonsan detachment and the Soonyeong detachment on the outskirts of Pyongyang should be about the same, probably around the thirteenth to the fourteenth. The main force of the Japanese attack on Pyongyang was personally led by Nozu Michikan, commander of the Fifth Division of the Japanese Army, with more than 5,000 troops, and he was the last to arrive in Pyongyang, about 15 July.

Because there was a time lag of several days for the Japanese army's fourth-route troops to arrive in Pyongyang, it was entirely possible if the Qing army could well grasp this opportunity, concentrate superior forces, and inflict heavy losses on the Japanese army on one or both routes first. If, if this were to be the case, the battle for Pyongyang would most likely be rewritten.

Moreover, Qin Chuan originally insisted on playing with the team with such a mind.

It's just that seeing the thousands of troops of the Qing army, which seems to be scattered, now Qin Chuan has no hope of relying on these Qing troops to inflict heavy losses on the Japanese army. He no longer believes that his little "butterfly" alone can change the outcome of the first battle in Pyongyang with the instigation of his wings. Qin Chuan had already concluded in his heart that he was powerless to return to the sky, and Pyongyang would lose.

All he can do now is how to minimize the loss of more than 10,000 Beiyang elites.

Thinking of this, Qin Chuan couldn't help but feel extremely lonely, at that moment Qin Chuan felt from the bottom of his heart how ridiculous it was that he was so weak and still had the ambition to turn the tide.

"Your Excellency!"

"Your Excellency!"

Seeing that Qin Chuan's eyes were blank, his face was pale, and his body was shaking, he panicked so much that Gao Jishan, Luo Peide, and Wu Bingwen called out again and again, so that Qin Chuan could come to his senses.

Qin Chuan sighed heavily, and unwillingly set his eyes down the mountain, looking at the Qing army under the mountain who were embarrassed and retreated in a hurry, his heart was full of sadness and helplessness.

Where did Gao Jishan, Loped, and Wu Bingwen know Qin Chuan's thoughts, and they thought that Qin Chuan was upset that this attack ended in vain, and they were thinking about persuading Qin Chuan, but they didn't want Qin Chuan's eyes to suddenly light up and turn their heads to Gao Jishan, Loped, and Wu Bingwen.

"Cipo, Lao Luo, Lao Wu, since the Japanese army has a road from Wonsan, it means that the Japanese army is likely to besiege Pyongyang in several ways. At present, the Japanese army has a maximum of 20,000 troops in Korea, and the number of troops that the Japanese army can draw is only 15,600. Now that the Japanese army has divided its troops, this has given us an opportunity, and if we fail to seize this opportunity, once the Japanese troops from all walks of life gather in Pyongyang, Pyongyang will lose. ”

Gao Jishan looked at Qin Chuan with some surprise: "My lord, do you mean that we want to meet this Japanese army alone?" ”

Lopet also asked Qin Chuan in surprise: "But we only have seven or eight hundred people, can this work?" ”

Qin Chuan shook his head and said, "Okay, but it's not that we continue to go south to meet the enemy, but to withdraw to Pyongyang." ”

Qin Chuan's words immediately made the three of them confused, and Qin Chuan also knew that he was in a hurry for a while, so he didn't make his words clear, so he hurriedly explained.

Qin Chuan's intention was not to lead these two battalions alone to continue southward to meet the enemy, nor to withdraw to Pyongyang thereafter, but to cross the Taedong River and withdraw to the vicinity of Pyongyang, to be precise, to withdraw to the southwest of Pyongyang, to find the rest of the Japanese army near the Taedong River, and then seize a certain force, and when it crossed the Taedong River, surprise it and attack it halfway.

After Qin Chuan explained, looking at the three people who were still a little hesitant, Qin Chuan knew that in order to achieve his goal, he had to convince these three people.

"Cipu, Lao Luo, Lao Wu, if you are willing to help me, we can not only relieve the pressure of the Japanese army on Pyongyang, after the matter is completed, you will be a miracle, and it is certain that you will be promoted to the knighthood."

When Qin Chuan said this, Lopet stopped doing it first, and said with a red face.

"Lord Qin, what you said is not right. Let's not talk about Pyongyang, you saved the lives of our people, without you, Lord Qin, we would have fed the fish a long time ago, where can we still talk here. As long as you, Lord Qin, have something to say, I, Loped, will never say anything. As for what is added to the knighthood, it has nothing to do with me Loped. ”

Wu Bingwen also said angrily: "Yes, Lao Luo is right, Lord Qin has orders, and Lao Luo and I have no two hearts." ”

Gao Jishan thought for a while and hesitated and said: "Yes, my Gao Cipu joined the army this time, just thinking about how to serve the country, but I didn't think about whether to add or not, I am also willing to follow the adult." However, if we do this, are we disobeying military orders? What are we going to tell those people down the mountain? ”

Qin Chuan glanced at the Qing army brigade that had already walked half of the mountain downhill, and said to Gao Jishan: "This is easy to do, it seems that this is the back of the camp of Jiang Zi Kang Deren." Cipu, you go down to Jiang Zikang now, and say that we are willing to be the rear guard of the whole army, but we are not only few people, but we don't have cannons yet, so let him lend us his four Krupp mountain guns. ”

Seeing that Gao Jishan was still hesitating, Lopet said dissatisfiedly: "I said General Gao, don't be rubbing, since we have all decided to follow Lord Qin to kill the Japanese, how can we do without artillery." You just need to borrow the cannon, although our cannon has sunk into the sea with the Gao Sheng, but the people of our artillery team are still in our battalion, and we are not short of manpower. ”

Gao Jishan went down the mountain to borrow artillery, and Lopet and Wu Bingwen were not idle, and immediately urged his soldiers to hurry up and start eating, and then packed up their tents.

It didn't take long for Gao Jishan to come back and tell Qin Chuan that Jiang Zikang heard that Qin Chuan was willing to serve as the rear guard of the whole army, so he didn't hesitate to leave the four cannons and shells.

With the cannon, Qin Chuan was relieved, and the four of them also had a meal in a hurry, so they led the team down the mountain.

Seeing Qin Chuan and them descending the mountain from a distance, Jiang Zikang didn't wait to greet Qin Chuan, leaving four mountain cannons and cannonballs, and took his two battalions huhula and left.

Qin Chuan didn't dare to stay long, although Oshima Yoshimasa's Ninth Mixed Brigade was still a day's journey from here, but their reconnaissance troops inevitably had to go out to investigate, and they should hurry up and leave here as soon as possible.

Separately tied the disassembled mountain artillery and cannonballs left by Jiang Zikang to the horse, and Qin Chuan immediately took the two battalions of Luo Peide and Wu Bingwen to follow Jiang Zikang's Renzi battalion.

Following Jiang Zikang and them for almost an hour, seeing that the Qing army in front of them had gone far, Qin Chuan took two battalions of soldiers and turned to the west ravine.