Morning, October 22, 1900. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

The town of Wumen, a German barracks.

"Your Excellency Chief of Staff, the 5th Brigade of the Expeditionary Force has been assembled and can set off at any time, please instruct."

"Your Excellency Chief of Staff, the 6th Brigade of the Expeditionary Force has been assembled and can set off at any time, please instruct."

……

The German army has strict hierarchies and complicated rules within the system, which can be ranked in the top three in the armies of all countries in the world, just like now, it is just an ordinary day, whether the troops are drawn or not, and when they are deployed, they need to obtain the consent of the supreme commander in the army.

The expeditionary force sent by Germany this time consisted of two divisions and two brigades, as well as three battalions of cavalry and two battalions of artillery, totaling more than 30,000 troops.

More than 30,000 German troops, divided into three routes, among which the south in the direction of the Daimyo Mansion was the 1st Division of the Expeditionary Force plus a cavalry battalion. Feng. Cressler leads the team.

North to the direction of Baodingfu, for the expeditionary force 2nd division plus a cavalry battalion, this road by the German expeditionary force commander Wadsey personally led, of course, as the commander-in-chief of the eight-nation coalition forces, Wadsey will certainly not stay in the army, is expected to arrive in Baoding, will go north to Yanjing, when the time, this road German army must have the 2nd division commander Fred. Du Hong took over, but it was still a question whether Wadsey would be able to leave Fucheng alive.

The German Middle Route Army, which was about to fight with the Black Dragon Army, was led by Horstred, chief of staff of the German Expeditionary Force, and had the 5th and 6th Infantry Brigades, plus two artillery battalions and one cavalry battalion, totaling more than 12,000 troops.

Of course, the three cavalry battalions accompanying the German army, their mounts, naturally could not have been brought over across the sea, but sent by Yuan Shikai, the governor of Shandong, in order to be able to send the German army away smoothly, it was really painstaking and laborious, not only to ensure the safety of the German army, but also to send grain and grass, and horses, of course, a large number of mules and so on.

This time, Lao Yuan sent out more than 2,000 horses alone, after all, in addition to the cavalry battalion needs war horses, on a certain level of officer, you can't let people also walk, so do you need to send more, as for mules, that is used to pull artillery, the German Army is strong, why is it strong, among which artillery is one of their major advantages, just like the two brigades of the Middle Route Army, because they do not have an artillery battalion directly under their jurisdiction, the German War Department assigned them an independent artillery battalion to cooperate in the operation, as for the integrated division, it is at least two artillery battalions directly under the regular direct jurisdiction, Even the artillery regiment's.

Why is Yue Weihua equipped with so many infantry guns in the Central Plains Army Division, almost an infantry battalion is hidden in an artillery battalion, and he also expanded the field artillery battalion that was originally subordinate to the Xigang Army Division into a field artillery regiment, and supplemented 45 105mm field guns.

Without further ado, let's get back to business.

Ludwig, the commander of the 5th Brigade of the German Army, and Gabriel, the commander of the 6th Brigade, came to the barracks of Chief of Staff Horstred early in the morning.

"I have a general understanding of your thoughts, but the key to this crusade is the word 'fast', and I have also discussed it with His Excellency Marshal Wadsey, and the marshal believes that within a week, all countries should not jump out and interfere wantonly, but after a week, they will inevitably intervene, of course, the intervention of various countries and the protests of the Qing court will not allow us to cease fire immediately, and in any case, it will be possible to cease fire only after the marshal enters Kyoto of the Qing court and meets with the ministers of various countries and the responsible persons of the Qing court."

"If you calculate it in this way, the time given to us should be about half a month." Horstraid paused, and then said: "That is to say, what our record is in this expedition to the Qing Kingdom, it depends on how much we can achieve in half a month." ”

"There is no doubt that the more territory we take, the more Qing bandits we clear, then the more the marshal will be able to fight for more interests for Germany during the negotiations. 2

"The old city, Zaoqiang, and even Jizhou, in Huaxia Zhili Province, are all remote places, poor and remote places, if you waste too much time here, it is not worth it,......。"

Horstrred talked eloquently, but the eyes of the two major generals and brigade commanders kept shining, Zaoqiang and Jizhou They don't know, but the old city, they robbed it yesterday but it was very cool, in addition to the property kept by the soldiers, the wealth handed over to the brigade headquarters, each brigade is more than 100,000 marks, and this is just a small county in the middle of nowhere.

"Your Excellency the Chief of Staff, your subordinates understand." The commander of the 5th brigade, Ludwig, complimented.

"Yes, Your Excellency Chief of Staff, please give the order." The commander of the 6th Brigade, Garipur, echoed.

"Well, the situation in the old city is quite special, and I can understand it." Horstred said, after all, after being adrift at sea for more than two months, and being restricted in Shandong, after entering the old city on the first day, it was naturally like a wild horse that had escaped from the leash, and it would definitely not work if he didn't indulge, and said: "However, from today onwards, I have only one request, no matter how you march, but at the end of the day, the march must not be less than thirty kilometers. ”

"Yes, Your Excellency Chief of Staff."

……

The German army in the middle of the road at the moment of the rising of the sun, on time, why the German army dared to claim to be the first army in the world, first of all, because of their extremely strong discipline, just like now, marching for several days in a row, that is, yesterday morning did not assemble on time, and after a night of rest, their discipline returned to their side.

Moreover, because of Horstred's confession, this German army did not behave as madly as yesterday, but carried out limited operations along the way while maintaining the speed of the march, of course, because after entering the territory of Zaoqiang, the Germans seemed to suddenly find that they had nothing to rob, which was also a big reason.

"Your Excellency Chief of Staff, since you entered the Zaoqiang realm, you haven't even seen a Chinese figure, it seems that you were frightened by us?" The commander of the 5th Brigade, Ludwig, chatted as he rode side by side with Horstred.

"It should be, but how can I have a bad premonition, it stands to reason that the people of Huaxia should not leave, so thoroughly." Horsred frowned.

"Haha, Your Excellency Chief of Staff, you are too worried, after all, this place is not far from the old city, and there are some small villages along the way, maybe you are just hiding, and when you get to the next town, we may be able to understand." Ludwig laughed.

"I hope so."

……

"Report."

"Say."

"Report to Your Excellency Chief of Staff, about four miles ahead, is Qianli Town, but there is a river outside Qianli Town, there was originally a bridge on the river, but now this bridge has been vandalized, after the investigation of our reconnaissance company, as well as the explanation of the Huaxia Leading the Way Party, we found that there is no bridge within five miles of the upper and lower reaches of the Qianli River, if you want to cross the river as soon as possible, you may need to go into the water." The commander of the reconnaissance company reported: "Therefore, Brigade Commander Gabriel has ordered to ask His Excellency the Chief of Staff how to cross the river?" ”

The Sixth Traveling Army was in front, encountering a river obstruction, this kind of trivial matter had to come to ask for instructions, I have to say that the German army ranks strictly, of course, this may also be related to their current mood, in fact, it is idle panic, and it is not an emergency march, and there is no war, it is purely walking, robbing, killing and killing, therefore, give the highest commander a little more face.

Sure enough, when Hostred heard this, he suddenly felt refreshed, so he asked, "Well, is there a shoal nearby, what is the depth of the water, and how wide is the river?" ”

The commander of the reconnaissance company replied: "About 200 meters downstream of the far bridge, there is a shoal, the river is more than ten meters wide, but the water is shallow, the deepest part is less than two feet. ”

Hearing the reply of the commander of the reconnaissance company, Horstred looked at the sky again and felt the temperature for a while, before ordering: "The weather is still warm today, so let's take a bath for everyone, you tell Brigadier Gabriel that you must not delay too long in the river, after all, our lunch will be solved in Qianli Town." ”

"Yes."

……

Qianli Town, the left bank of the Qianli River.

Because of the obstruction of the river, more and more soldiers of the German army gathered on the bank of the river, and many soldiers took out towels to wash their faces and wipe their bodies, of course, there were also many soldiers who wanted to jump into the river to take a bath, after all, this road was a rapid march, and there was really no pleasure to take a bath along the way, and now the sun was shining brightly, and the temperature was acceptable, but the discipline of the German army was well reflected here, because they were all waiting for orders.

On the other side of the river, on a small hill a few hundred meters away.

"****, what are these foreign devils doing, don't you want to cross the river?" The head of the 201st regiment, Montaula, was a little speechless.

"Montaula, what are you in a hurry, if you encounter this situation during the march, you must always ask the above." Yue Weiyun said.

If the Qianli River is wide and the water is deep, then there is no doubt that a bridge will be built, but the problem is that the Qianli River is not wide, the water is not deep, and it is not so anxious to march, the weather is fine, it is estimated that everyone is still wanting to take a bath, at this time, it must be normal to ask for instructions.

"Hey, it's in the water, commander, quickly, you quickly contact the commander-in-chief, and when it will be detonated, notify us in advance, and let us be prepared, otherwise this is so close, our ears will be deaf." Montaura said urgently.

"You're going to be deafened, what about the soldiers in the front positions?" Yue Weiyun glared at Montaula.

Obviously, as time went on, the Germans had received orders from Horstred, so the soldiers close to the shore began to undress and go down the river, and, except for a small number of soldiers who needed to be responsible for crossing the river, did not stay in the river too much, chose to cross the river quickly, and then went ashore to start the guard.

As for the other soldiers, most of them went down to the river first to wash, of course, it was not long, maybe a minute or two, and then they went ashore again, picked up their luggage, and began to cross the river.

Yue Weihua is setting up a quadruple flying car at the moment, cruising in mid-air, carefully observing the situation, and holding a remote-controlled detonator in his hand, which took fifty merit points to redeem, the remote-controlled detonator, as for when it will be detonated, it must still need to wait for the opportunity.

…… (To be continued.) )