The dog days of June were stuffy and hot, and staying in the wild for a long time in this weather would make people sweat, but the rebel soldiers of Kong Youde, who were eager to open up the way to retreat, were forced to repeatedly attack the wall of Xiaohuakou Village.

Looking at the gradually increasing number of casualties under the wall, while the defenders' wall was still as solid as a rock, Kong Youde's heart became anxious again.

Kong Youde felt that he and his army were like falling into a big mud pond, the more he struggled and fell deeper and deeper, his side was obviously stronger than the other party in terms of the number of soldiers, weapons and equipment, but in the end it always backfired.

The other party is like a long needle wrapped in cotton, and he doesn't have much strength on the outside, but he will be injured by it at the slightest contact.

After dawn, the defenders of Pingdu City will find that their side has withdrawn, and the rebels will naturally pursue with all their might, not knowing that Cao Shaozhong's 2,000 cavalry can stop the defenders of Pingdu City.

Kong Youde now did not dare to have the slightest contempt for the defenders of Pingdu City, he repeatedly thought in his heart about what means this Feng Jian used to train such an army, and his soldiers were now afraid of this army, both in terms of momentum and in fighting each other.

The current situation will never allow his side to attack in a hurry, and he must come up with a way to evacuate quickly, Kong Youde thought anxiously.

Most of his elites are concentrated in the camp of 5,000 cavalry, for the sake of today, as long as the cavalry remains intact and quickly rushes through the interception of Xiaohuakou, the remaining foot soldiers can only desperately attack the defenders of Xiaohuakou, even if they pay a big price, Kong Youde secretly made up his mind.

With a wave of his hand, he ordered the Chinese army to beat the drum to suspend the attack, and the ghost weather was too hot to stand. Let all the soldiers temporarily retire to eat and rest, and then attack the Xiaohuakou Pass after noon.

In a makeshift tent set up by the rebels. Kong Youde proposed his plan to Mao Chenglu, Chen Guangfu and other generals, preparing to let Mao Chenglu and Chen Guangfu's subordinates continue to attack Xiaohuakou Pass. Kong Youde led the cavalry and the Chinese soldiers to break into the official road of Xiaohuakou, and attacked the blockade of the defenders of Xiaohuakou at the speed of cavalry.

Mao Chenglu and Chen Guangfu were also at a loss at this time, they felt that guarding the Xiaohuakou garrison was like kraft candy, they couldn't tear it apart and couldn't be killed, it could be said that every inch of land would be fought for.

This side has been unable to exterminate the defenders on the mountain to completely control Xiaohuakou, and on the other side, the defenders of Pingdu City are likely to come to reinforce, and then they will really be cornered, Kong Youde's plan is also the most effective way to get out at present, fortunately, most of the dangerous positions in Xiaohuakou have been conquered. It can contain the interception of the defenders on the mountain.

But to Mao Chenglu and Chen Guangfu who stayed behind to continue to lead the troops to attack Xiaohuakou, but it was quite difficult, they all knew that the attack was more dangerous than risking death to break through, after some persuasion, Chen Guangfu reluctantly agreed to stay and lead the rebels to continue to attack the Xiaohuakou defenders, in order to cover the main force of the rebels to break through.

The sun began to set westward, and the rebel soldiers who had rested for a while divided into two routes, one way began to start a new round of attacks on the cottage wall, while Kong Youde led the cavalry and 6,000 infantry soldiers of the Chinese army directly bypassed Xiaohuakou and rushed to the official road to prepare to force through the blockade.

Zhou Wei stood at the battlement. With the telescope in his hand, he kept observing the movements of Kong Youde's rebels, and couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he saw the rebels rushing directly to the direction of the official road.

For the past two days, the rebel soldiers continued to attack the various defensive points on the mountain, although the defensive points were easy to defend and difficult to attack. However, unable to withstand the large number of rebels, more than 200 Franc machine guns continued to attack, and finally had to abandon some less important defensive points. Concentrate your limited defenses on this main pass, as long as you keep it safe. It is guaranteed to be a threat to the rebels.

The rebel attack was so fierce that Zhou Wei did not give the order to use the Hongyi cannon hidden among the cliffs. He knew the power of this red-clad cannon, and had been hiding it for a killer purpose. The rebel cavalry and 6,000 foot soldiers were just in time for the red-coated cannons to open fire.

Zhou Wei put down the binoculars and saw that the rebel Franc machine guns below the pass began to fire shells again, after continuous bombardment, some of the battlements of the wall have been blown down, and some walls began to appear incomplete, but it is difficult to destroy the wall of the pass directly by these less powerful Franc machine guns.

Previously, Zhou Wei completely handed over the defense of the pass here to the first division, and Yang Eighty, the commander of the third thousandth headquarters, and all the bird soldiers of the third thousand headquarters were handed over to Yang Eighty, who assigned and commanded them.

And Yang 80 also lived up to expectations, and made use of the intricate terrain in the mountains according to local conditions, and assigned birds and soldiers to hide among them to carry out long-range strikes against the rebels, so that the rebels could not be guarded.

Zhou Wei licked his chapped lips and said to Yang Baba, who was standing beside him: "General Yang, the rebels are ready to take the road and escape, I will go directly to the artillery camp Jiangliang to command the battle, and the pass will be handed over to you, no matter what, the rebels can't break through." ”

Yang Ba Ba wiped the sweat on his face with his hand, and said in a hoarse voice: "Zhou Qian, just go, the terrain of the pass here is steep, and the rebels don't want to conquer it easily if they don't have the right climbing equipment, and once the rebels here realize that the main force of the rebels has escaped, they will lose their fighting spirit in an instant, and the defense of their subordinates will be easier, and the rebels don't want to cross the pass one step." ”

Zhou Wei nodded and said: "The main force of the 3,000 headquarters is basically defending on the pass, and this thousand always allows you to act cheaply at critical moments!" ”

Yang Baba's face was solemn, and he raised his hand with a standard military salute and said: "Thank you to President Zhou Qian for your trust, and your subordinates will act on their own." ”

Yang Ba Ba understood what Zhou Wei meant, this is to hand over all the command power on the battlefield to himself, this is the absolute trust and value of himself, and there is a burst of gratitude in his heart!

In the col on the gentle slope north of Xiaohuakou, more than 200 horsemen of the Zhenshan Battalion Hunting Enemy Division are hiding here. The horses of the Enemy Hunting Division were concentrated in the shade and handed over to a team of soldiers to take care of them, while the rest of the soldiers of the Enemy Hunting Division sat or leaned against the shade of the mountain wall, some whispered, some closed their eyes to recuperate, and a solemn atmosphere before the war permeated the valley.

Shen Xiaoshan was surrounded by Guo Tai, Liu Rongsheng, Xie Wu, Jiang Yu and other four cavalry commanders of the Enemy Hunting Division, who were talking in a whisper at this time.

Among several people, Guo Tai was the most broken-mouthed: "Since the rebels began to attack the city, there has been no chance to hunt the enemy Si Li's military exploits and show off, and this time the rebels will not be able to let go of this good opportunity to take advantage of the fire to rob, damn it." If we can take advantage of the chaos to catch Kong Youde, then we will have made a great contribution to hunting the enemy Si Ke! ”

The last time Liu Rongsheng and Xie Wu set out from Dengzhou City to transport Western craftsmen back to Huluyan. Illusions were arranged along the way, and the Dengzhou cavalry was successfully led astray. Safely sent half of the Westerners to Huluyan, and afterwards rewarded for meritorious deeds, Liu Rongsheng and Xie Wu were both promoted for merit, and both of them were awarded the commander of the enemy hunting division.

Liu Rongsheng raised the water bladder and poured a mouthful of water into his mouth, grinning: "Kong Youde is not like those Westerners, even if the rebels flee all the way, he is also closely protected, it is very difficult to find and capture the chaotic army, Lao Guo, don't be delusional." ”

Guo Tai glared at Niu Baozi and said, "Is it delusional." When the time comes, I will see the real chapter on the battlefield, my old Guo has always been unlucky, and he really wanted to catch Kong Youde to first starve the dog for three days and three nights, and then carry it to Dengzhou City to persuade the rebels to surrender. ”

After speaking, he glanced at the people in front of him triumphantly, and found that everyone was looking at him with a smile, touched his chin and said, "Is what Lao Tzu said wrong?" ”

Xie Wu said with a smile: "Very right, very right, if Kong Youde really surrenders, I hope he will not be like Xilao and other Westerners who will treat you coldly and hatefully!" ”

Several people on the side smiled knowingly. When Xilao and other Western craftsmen were first captured to Huluyan, they made a lot of noise, but Guo Tai came forward to threaten and intimidate, and successfully became the devil in the eyes of Xilao and other Western craftsmen. The person hated the most by Western craftsmen, this matter has also become a joke among the generals of Huluyan.

Guo Tai scolded: "Damn, these foreign devils are really holding grudges." Lao Tzu doesn't really want to deal with them, and their way to live......"

Shen Xiaoshan interrupted with a wave of his hand: "Let's get down to business." According to the commander's order, the next main task of the enemy hunting division is to follow the camera of the rebels of Kong Youde. Now the rebels are blocked by Zhou Wei's 3,000 headquarters in Xiaohuakou, in a dilemma, if the commander can lead the defenders in the city to arrive in time, Kong Youde's rebels will inevitably be flanked before and after, and finally turn into a rout. ”

Guo Tai grinned and said: "It's still Shen Tou who understands my Lao Guo, a few of you are not interesting enough, Lao Liu, Lao Guo won't want to let you drink next time!" ”

Liu Rongsheng pursed his lips, looking very unconvinced, and turned to Shen Xiaoshan and said: "The commander ordered the enemy hunting division to act, that is, we should seize the opportunity to exchange the smallest effort for the greatest return, although the elite of the enemy hunting division is only two hundred men and horses after all, so it is not possible to directly attack the rebels from the front, and the subordinates think that the rebels will suddenly kill from the side after the entire hunting division has the best effect." ”

Shen Xiaoshan nodded and said: "Yes, the most stupid thing on the battlefield, the rebels broke through the blockade of Xiaohuakou, and then chased and killed by the Hunting Division, and finally faced the difficulty of the first division of the Zhenshan Battalion, I think Xu Yannian and they have been looking forward to it for a long time, waiting for the fleeing rebels to get into their ambush circle." Therefore, the first task of the Enemy Hunting Division is to capture as many rebel horses as possible, and use them to develop and expand the scale of our Enemy Hunting Division's cavalry. ”

Jiang Yu frowned slightly and said: "Shen Tou, my subordinates think that the rebel cavalry led by Kong Youde is not fleeing because of fighting with people on the battlefield, but should be regarded as retreating, this nearly 3,000 cavalry plus 6,000 foot soldiers forcibly passed through the Xiaohuakou blockade, although it will be bombarded by artillery fire, but the rebel cavalry formation and equipment that rushed out of the artillery attack did not suffer much loss in all aspects, and it was still not something that our two hundred cavalry could shake. ”

Shen Xiaoshan frowned, stared at Jiang Yudao: "Do you mean to let the rebels led by Kong Youde go over, and then surround and block the rebel cavalry after the break, so that they will not be taken advantage of by the enemy, and you can take the opportunity to capture a large number of war horses of the rebels after the break?" ”

Jiang Yu nodded and said: "That's what the subordinates mean, every soldier in the Enemy Hunting Division has been selected and mastered all kinds of special skills, and there should be no enemy in the field on the battlefield, but there are other special missions and special groups." ”

Shen Xiaoshan's eyes were stunned, it seemed that his mind was also a little hot in the face of temptation, the commander once warned himself that the enemy hunting division would never fight the enemy head-on unless it was absolutely necessary, and the enemy hunting division should be like a hunter hidden in the dark, launching an attack on the prey by surprise, this is the true nature of the enemy hunting division, and Jiang Yu was not calm at the critical moment, and he couldn't help but feel a little ashamed when he thought of this.

After thinking for a while, Shen Xiaoshan said: "Jiang Yu's reminder is very timely, I see that everyone is a little underestimated, thinking that Kong Youde's rebels will be vulnerable if they return from Pingdu City." The scale of the enemy hunting division has been expanded, and the number of personnel has increased, and it is only right that we should abide by our duty in the enemy's operations. ”

"Boom", there were suddenly two continuous thunderous sounds in the direction of Xiaohuakou, and the sentinel who went out galloped into the valley. (To be continued......)