The soldiers of the 1st Mounted Infantry Corps dismounted from their horses, their feet on the solid ground, and with great curiosity they looked at the camp in front of them and the railroad that stretched south to the horizon. Most of them were also seeing the legendary steel-paved road for the first time.

The camp for the railway workers was now also a large barracks, stationed here by a division of the Second Army Corps, who had arrived from Zhangjiakou by train - although the railroad south of Zhangjiakou to Nankou had not yet been built, and the locomotives and flatbed cars were dismantled and pulled to Zhangjiakou by mule and horse carts and then put together. All the materials that need to be transported by rail, including coal for trains, also need to be transported hundreds of miles by human and animal power. However, it is still much more efficient than maintaining the logistics of the army on the shoulders throughout the whole process.

The army brought by Shi Dakai and Saigo Takayong included a cavalry infantry division, a team directly under the army, and six or seven thousand Mongolian soldiers, numbering more than 23,000, and countless horses, cattle and sheep, and carts. Shi Dakai and the others also arrived at the gate of the camp, and saw more than a dozen soldiers in gray military uniforms or red official uniforms already waiting there. Standing side by side in the middle were an army major general in his thirties and a civilian official from Sanpin, who were Liu Lichuan, commander of the Fourth Division of the Army, and Hu Linyi, the supervisor of the railway yamen.

When the two saw Shi Dakai and the tall Xixiang, they immediately strode up to meet them. Shi Dakai and Xixiang saw the two of them, and before they had time to say hello, Liu Lichuan opened his mouth in a solemn tone: "Dare to be a brother, Xixiang-kun." The Russian Tatar cavalry brigade may be nearby. Our scout cavalry fought frequently with the Russian Tartar scouts. He also caught a soldier of the Eight Banners disguised as a Mongol, and according to his confession, the scale of the Russian Tatar coalition army this time was 9,000 people, including 3,000 Cossack cavalry. ”

Hearing that there were 3,000 Cossack cavalry, Shi Dakai and Saigo Takanaga's faces also sank slightly. In their opinion, the 6,000 Eight Banners soldiers can be completely ignored, since the beginning of the War against the Qing Dynasty and the Restoration of the Ming Dynasty, the Manchu Eight Banners are invincible! But 3,000 Cossack cavalry should not be underestimated. The prestige of the Cossacks was fought on the battlefields of Europe!

Since the hostile situation is current. There is no need for any polite greetings. Hu Linyi and Liu Lichuan led Shi Dakai and Xixiang Takayong into a large yurt where the headquarters of the Fourth Division was located. A rectangular table made of white wood was covered with a map of the Gobi Desert, and the staff officers of the 4th Division had sketched in red pencil the general area of activity and possible directions of action of the Russian Tatar cavalry.

"This Russian Tatar cavalry should be in the Gobi Desert with Wuweibao as the center of the Gobi Desert for three or four hundred miles, this is a very large area, and they are still moving, it is not easy to find them. As for where they wanted to go, the judgment of the General Staff was that they might go west through the Yanran Mountain area to Uriya Sutai. ”

Shi Dakai's gaze swept over and over the map, his brows furrowed tightly, and he deduced various possibilities in his heart.

The grasslands south of the Gobi Desert belong to the boundaries of Suiyuan Province and Chahar Province. There are many Mongolian nomadic tribes living there, as well as some Han Chinese military farms and collective farms. None of them are easy to deal with. Moreover, there are regular troops of the Ming army stationed there, and there are 2 brigades of Miao troops in Suiyuan Province. There are also 30,000 retired former Miao officers and soldiers who can be mobilized at any time. Chahar Province is home to most of the Second Army. None of these armies could be dealt with by 3,000 Cossack cavalry, and the only reason for them to enter the Monan steppe was to burn and loot them, attracting more Ming troops to encircle and suppress them, so as to reduce the pressure in the direction of the city.

And after crossing the Gobi Desert to the west, this Russian Tatar cavalry is a vast sea and sky. To the north, you can cross the Yanran Mountains into the Tangnu Wuliang Sea, to the west you can enter the Kobdo grassland, which is rich in water and grass, to the south you can enter the Altai Mountains, and even go all the way south into Xinjiang. At that time, it will be difficult for the Ming army to catch them again. However, in this way, the threat of this Russian Tatar cavalry to the logistics line of the Ming army was greatly reduced, and the Ming army could even ignore it and concentrate its forces to take down the trading city.

"The Russian Tatar cavalry should enter Monan!" Saigo Takayong came to a conclusion first, he twisted his thick eyebrows and said, "If I were the general of the Russian Tartar cavalry, I would definitely go south to the Monan grassland, and then burn and loot, not attack the city, fight with the Ming army, and even threaten the Shanshan Hetao area to attract the main force of the Ming army to move westward, if you can't gain a foothold, then march to Hexi and Qinghai." ”

Shi Dakai shook his head slightly, entering Mo Nan is no different from seeking death! Although it can attract the Ming army to encircle and suppress to the greatest extent, but only 9,000 cavalry, under the encirclement and interception of hundreds of thousands of troops, as long as there is a mistake, they will not be able to escape the end of annihilation.

Saigo thought about it and said: "The overall situation of the battle between Ming and Russia is greatly advantageous to me and greatly unfavorable to the Russians. With a cavalry to do a mortal battle, attract the main force of our army to Monan. At the same time, concentrate the main force and the vicinity of the trading city, first use the trading city to consume Luo Shuai's department, and wait for Luo Shuai's troops to be exhausted, and then suddenly attack, when there is a seventy percent chance of victory. ”

"This is a desperate gamble...... Liu Lichuan disagreed, "There are more than 60,000 or nearly 70,000 people in Luo Shuai's department, even if some are consumed under the trading city, there are still 60,000 people." The Russian-Tatar forces that Muravyov was able to concentrate were at this point. And the Tartars who have no combat effectiveness still account for most of them, and it would be good to be able to tie with Luo Shuai. The possibility of being defeated is not small, and when the time comes, what will the Russians take to defend Eastern Siberia? ”

Saigo Takayong said with a smile: "If you don't make desperate preparations, then you can only use delaying tactics to fight a protracted war." However, once the railway to the trading city is completed, our consumption on the logistics line will be greatly reduced. And all the materials consumed by the Russian army in Eastern Siberia have to be transported from Europe, how can a protracted war be won? ”

He paused and said, "Even if the Russian Tatar army crosses the Gobi Han Sea to the west, what threat will it pose to the Ming Dynasty?" The Mongols in Moxi are scarce, and they have not yet been attached to the imperial court, so even if they are killed by the Russians, I will not lose anything. As for its north to Tangnu-Ulianghai, west to Kobdo, and south to Altai, it has no impact on the war situation. On the contrary, it will make it impossible for 9000 elites to participate in the decisive battle, making the available troops of the Russians even thinner. Therefore, we should make preparations for the Russian Tatar cavalry to move south, push the troops flat behind the fortress line, and enter the Monan steppe south with a strong force. ”

This analysis is reasonable! Shi Dakai and Liu Lichuan looked at each other, and they both showed expressions of approval. Shi Dakai nodded and just wanted to speak, a staff officer outside rushed in, it was a staff officer of the Fourth Division of the Army, and when he saw Liu Lichuan, he snapped and stood upright, and reported loudly: "Division commander, the Russian Tatar cavalry has been discovered, and early this morning, they appeared near Wuwei Fort!" ”

Liu Lichuan was stunned: "Where did the news come from?" ”

"It was the deputy battalion commander of the Wuwei Fort garrison who personally sent the news, and the others were outside."

"Invite him in."

The person who came was Wu Changqing, who did not walk in by himself, but was carried in by two soldiers. This day, he rode a horse for a total of fifteen hours, ran nearly 200 miles, and exhausted the BMW that Song Qing gave him, and the whole person was also tired.

"Tell me quickly, how many enemies are there, and have they attacked Wuwei Fort?" Shi Dakai asked repeatedly.

"The enemy has about 7,000 people, all of them are cavalry, and there may be a few cannons, and they don't carry any siege equipment, so they probably won't attack the castle."

"Where is the enemy going?"

"I don't know what to do, but when my subordinates left Wuwei Fort, they went from east to west." Wu Changqing took a breath, took the tea bowl handed over by a staff officer, took a big sip of water, and said, "But the cavalry of Wuweibao will definitely hang behind their buttocks!" ”

Shi Dakai clapped his hands, and said with a smile: "Okay! Command the whole army, immediately disengage! If we go to chase, even if we run the horses to death, we must also catch up with these Eight Banners and Lao Maozi! (To be continued......)