A long line of horses marched along the official road, all the soldiers rode a horse, and the wagons carrying supplies were in the middle of the procession, and the troops were not moving very fast. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoThis long horse team is a unit from the 3rd Division of the Armed Guards, which are pure infantry units, and the horses they are riding now only play the role of transports.

The Tang army controlled most of the war horses of the Qing army after the Beijing Incident, and for the cavalry units of the Tang Dynasty, the short Mongolian horses were not in their eyes at all, but for the infantry, they could help them realize the mule and increase the mobility of the troops. As a result, the 6th Brigade of the 3rd Division of the Armed Guards had a total of 10,000 war horses and mules and horses to be deployed, and the forage consumption of the war horses alone was also a large amount.

The 5th Brigade of the 3rd Division was sent by sea by Datang ships to the south of the Yangtze River, and they were traced up the mouth of the Yangtze River to launch attacks on targets along the river.

The first battle of the Sixth Brigade was originally in Xuzhou Town, but Xuzhou Town actually surrendered to them halfway, and the Imperial Military Department ordered Xuzhou Town's soldiers and horses to enter Shandong, and then accept the reorganization in Shandong and organize a new army. This is also to avoid the fraudulent surrender of Xuzhou Town, which is still in Xuzhou, and after the Wuwei Army hits southern Jiangsu, if Xuzhou Town rebels, then it will cut off the back road of the Wuwei Army.

Although this is unlikely, the Wu Weijun is still cautious to avoid any mistakes.

The commander of the Sixth Brigade was Yu Pengxi, who had previously surrendered to the Tang Army in the Gubeikou Mutiny, and then ascended to his current position, and he was also the highest-ranking Qing officer in the Wuwei Army. Liao Yuhai, who was originally stationed at Chaoyangmen in the capital, was also one level below him and served as the commander of the second regiment of the first division.

However, in the team, Yu Pengxi cannot call the shots. Because along with the 6th Brigade there was also a unit of the Don Army. The strength of an infantry battalion of the Bandar Regiment. And the new head of the Dangkou Troupe, Xia Guinong, is also among them. The establishment of the Armed Guard Army is not the same as that of the Qing Army under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, and it is still the name of the regiment and brigade rather than the standard association. However, in terms of military rank, it is comparable to the Qing army. Yu Pengxi is a brigade commander, but his military rank is only lieutenant colonel, and although Xia Guinong is the commander of the Tang Army, his military rank is colonel, which is one level greater than Pengxi. In fact, Xia Guinong is now also the commander of the Third Division of the Wuwei Army.

Of course, this is a strange thing, the commander of the Tang Army is also the commander of the Wuwei Army, but it is not surprising to think about the positioning of the Wuwei Army. The Wuwei Army is actually equivalent to the attached army of the Tang Dynasty in the Qing Dynasty. It is obviously more appropriate to actively cooperate with the actions of the Tang Army, and it is obviously more appropriate for the officers of the Tang Army to command both the Tang Army and the Armed Guard Army at the same time.

After crossing the Yellow River (at this time the Yellow River flows into the Yellow Sea instead of the Bohai Sea, so the Yellow River is also in Jiangsu), the march of this force became more cautious. Xia Guinong ordered to send scouts from the Tang Dynasty to grasp the safety of the route in advance. This behavior turned out to be very helpful, and near Huai'an, spies reported that there was a militia group lying in ambush there, waiting to attack the Wuwei army.

Afterwards. Another agent from the Datang Military Intelligence Department found Xia Guinong and reported the same information to him.

Yu Pengxi patted his ass and said, "The teacher is wise." The rebel party did not measure its own strength and tried to sneak attack our army, but they did not know that our army's eyes and ears were all over the south of the Yangtze River, and they had already probed their movements clearly. ”

Xia Guinong was originally a lower-level officer in the Republic of China, but in recent years, he was promoted to colonel because of his outstanding performance and military achievements. He was younger than Xie Jinwu and the others, only thirty-five or sixteen years old, the most capable age. He didn't care about Pengxi's patting horse at all, but continued to ask the military intelligence agent: "How many people are there in those militia groups, and how is the combat effectiveness?" ”

The agent replied, "Now the wind in Jiangnan is full of soldiers, and Sazai is also an ant on a hot pot. The power of the green battalion has basically collapsed, and if you take refuge in the imperial court, you can continue to serve without loss, but against us may not be able to save your life, these green battalion generals are clearly calculated, and they do not plan to go all the way with Sazai to the dark. Only a handful of Green Battalion troops were stripped of their military power by Sazai, and they were still tied to his chariot under the command of his cronies. However, Sazai is already very distrustful of the green battalion's military strength. The number of troops in the Eight Banners was too small to make much difference. On the contrary, what Sazai trusts the most now is the militia group he has formed in the past six months. Sazai absorbed a group of local soldiers, recruited local people, and formed this army, which has almost completed the integration recently, and is known as the Jiangnan Army. Although the training of this group of Jiangnan troops is not sufficient, and many of them even lack weapons, they are still united and their morale is higher because they are influenced by the traditional ideas of the soldiers and are all local villagers. The Jiangnan Military and Civilian Corps, which set up an ambush in Huai'an, was a force composed of locals, numbering about 6,000 people, and was the strongest Jiangnan Army in northern Jiangsu. However, there is no guarantee of combat effectiveness, and our investigation shows that they are not even equipped with 60 percent of the cold weapons of knives, guns, and guns, and there are only more than 200 guns, most of which are bird guns and arquebuses. ”

Xia Guinong nodded and said, "In this way, this Huai'an militia is not to be afraid. ”

Although the Armed Guards who came from afar were guest troops, and they had only been established for a short time, and their training was not particularly sufficient, they were still able to exert stronger combat effectiveness than any Qing army in this era due to their military establishment and weapon level.

So, Xia Guinong ordered: "Brigade Commander Yu, order the artillery directly under the brigade headquarters to set up positions at the front of the enemy, I want to give this group of guys who are not trying to ambush us a big surprise." ”

Yu Pengxi said: "It's true that they don't have enough power, and when there are only a few thousand people, they dare to attack us." ”

The agent of the military intelligence department said: "Most of the people who command these militia groups are local scholars. They think that if they are familiar with military books, they will be able to give up their illness, and they will feel that they are waiting for work at ease, and they are the righteous army, and the military heart can be used. In short, if they force themselves to believe that they will win, then no matter what the reality is, they will not be prevented from making stupid decisions. ”

Xia Guinong said: "What you said is very reasonable. ”

Yu Pengxi asked again: "Division commander, do you want to deploy our troops, and after shelling the enemy, completely break them down on all sides?" ”

Xia Guinong agreed: "That's right, that's what it looks like." But don't fight too hard, I guess they will collapse relatively quickly, and those scholar generals may be difficult to gather them again, let the soldiers mainly capture their leaders, and we will rush to Jiangning. (To be continued.) )