The two mixed brigades of the provincial army were mainly infantry, and there was no reason for the infantry on foot not to collapse when they encountered a cavalry charge in the open area, and only half of them fled into the air force battalion outside the city, relying on the earth fence to resist the cavalry, so that they could take a moment of respite.

The two brigade commanders lay on the wall and looked at the tragic situation outside, tears were about to fall, hundreds of brothers were cut down on the spot, and thousands of people surrendered, the elite of the two mixed brigades were crippled in an instant, and they also took over the county town and occupied the barracks.

Gai Longquan led hundreds of cavalry to gallop back and forth in the open space in front of the barracks, clearly not taking the remnants of the provincial army in his eyes, the first brigade commander was angry, and ordered his subordinates to shoot, and for a time the gunfire was everywhere, and the cavalry turned their horses and left, and the terrible military horn sounded.

Yan Su at the head of the city heard the sound of the military horn and ordered the cannon to be fired, and the three breech guns manufactured by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau in the Guangxu period roared again, and the solid shells accurately fell in the barracks where the provincial army was entrenched, although there were no casualties, but the shock in the heart was indeed great.

He was deceived into the tactics of others again, first he was fooled to the open ground outside the city to be slaughtered by the cavalry, and then he was forced to retreat into the barracks, and he was within the range of other people's cannons, all of which were calculated.

As soon as the army's heart was dispersed, this battle could not be fought, the two brigade commanders were combined, there were cavalry outside, and it was impossible to break through the siege, and there was only one way, that is, to ask Division Commander Duan to send troops to relieve the siege, and immediately arranged for four heralds to rush out on horseback to deliver the letter.

Under the cover of firepower, the four heralds rushed out of the barracks at the risk of death, and galloped to the northeast with a whip on their horses, and smoke and dust rolled up behind the horse's tail.

There was jubilation in the barracks, and the hearts of the two brigade commanders were also relaxed, and when the commander arrived, he would not be able to kill you!

At this time, Duan Haixiang was still leading his troops to besiege Chen Zikun and others on the hill, although there was only one battalion to defend, but this hill bag just couldn't be gnawed, but the people on the top of the mountain were not comfortable, the weather was hot and dry, the drinking water was a little less, and the soldiers had dry mouths and were anxious

Chen Zikun observed the situation under the mountain with a telescope, smoke curled everywhere, the provincial army was already having dinner, looking at their leisurely appearance, probably the battle report from the county town had not yet arrived.

"Yan Su" and "Gai Longquan" who followed Chen Zikun were all pretended. The real chief of staff and the second regiment commander stayed in the county town to deal with the enemy at the door, while he was responsible for attracting the enemy's firepower, which was a complete set of serial plans, formulated by the chief of staff, Su Qingyan.

The soldiers could only take turns to hide in the cave to avoid the sun, and the dry food was hard and could not be bitten, and they could only gnaw in small bites, and there was no water to drink, and their mouths were full of blood bubbles, and they were miserable

Duan Haixiang sat firmly in the military tent, in front of him was a sumptuous lunch, and after he was full of wine and food, there was opium smoke to enjoy, thinking that Chen Zikun on the hill bag didn't even have water to drink, he sneered: "Fight with Lao Tzu, you are still tender." ”

Suddenly, someone came to report that the herald of the first and second mixed brigades had sent a letter, Duan Haixiang was overjoyed, and said, "It must be the county seat that has been taken, let them in." ”

The two heralds crawled in with a rolling belt, and their voices were crying: "Help, division commander, the brothers have been wrapped dumplings." ”

Duan Haixiang was shocked, the plates with the cigarette lights were overturned, and after asking carefully, he patted his head and said, "It's not good, it's a trick!" ”

Duan Haixiang hurriedly sent the Fifth Brigade as a reserve to Nantai to relieve the siege, and ordered the Third Brigade and the Fourth Brigade to attack at any cost.

The movement of the provincial army was discovered by Chen Zikun, and he laughed and said: "The Nantai side must have won the battle." ”

The attack began again, the soldiers all over the mountains were divided into multiple columns and fought slowly, and the Grusen mountain artillery also began to bombard, this time the provincial army was really open, and the two mixed brigades were made dumplings by others, if Chen Zikun was not taken down, this battle would be a bit hanging.

The heavy machine guns on the hill began to exert their power again, the bullets kicked up clouds of smoke and dust on the dry land, and the provincial soldiers lay on the ground, unhurriedly releasing their guns, and the two blows were lively, but the casualties were very few.

The Fifth Brigade, which was ordered to rush to the rescue, threw down all the pots and pans, rushed forward lightly, and rushed dozens of miles under the bright sun, and the throat and eyes were about to smoke, and they saw a pond from afar, and the soldiers all surrounded it, and drank bitterly on the edge of the pond, and after drinking, they washed their faces, and then took a kettle to hold water, and some people took off their shoes and washed their feet in the pond, and the scene was a mess.

Suddenly, there was a cannon sound in the green gauze tent not far away, and countless people wearing big hats rushed out, the bayonets were bright, the box guns were crackling, and a large piece fell immediately on the edge of the pond, and the brigade commander exclaimed: "There is an ambush, retreat quickly!" "Le Ma and go, no longer care about his subordinates.

More than 1,000 men and horses of the Fifth Brigade were captured before they went to the battlefield, and it was the troops of the First Regiment of the Seventh Mixed Brigade who ambushed them, Chen Shou, who had been in ambush here for a day and a night.

By the time the news of the defeat reached Duan Haixiang's ears, it was already five o'clock in the afternoon, and in just one day, the five thousand men and horses of the three brigades were gone. ”

This trick is a typical siege of the city to help, as a general, Duan Haixiang was able to hit the trick, he regretted that he almost wanted to slap himself, he couldn't understand, didn't he capture nearly 3,000 enemy soldiers this morning, why Chen Zikun still has so many soldiers.

The prisoners were immediately interrogated, and after questioning more than a dozen people, they learned that it was not the regular army of the Seventh Mixed Brigade that collapsed at all in the morning, but the county security regiment and the people who were temporarily brought in for five cents a day!

Duan Haixiang shouted that he was deceived, one wrong step and one wrong step, although he still has 10,000 horses under his command, most of them are logistics baggage troops, and there are less than 4,000 people left who can really fight.

Even if the battle is defeated, the only chance to get it back is to capture Chen Zikun alive, Duan Haixiang personally rolled up his sleeves and carried a pistol to supervise the battle, whoever dares to retreat and shoot on the spot, whoever is the first to rush up, reward the ocean with five hundred, and the official will be promoted to three levels,

There must be brave men under the heavy reward, and the provincial army suddenly rushed forward with a scream like chicken blood, and the machine guns on the hill suddenly strafed, sweeping down one piece after another, just like cutting wheat, there were still people rushing forward one after another.

Suddenly, the heavy machine gun jammed, and the cooling water in the water-cooled heat dissipation sleeve had been boiled dry.

"Brothers, rush me." The officers shouted, and the provincial troops swarmed up, their bayonets glowing red in the twilight.

The situation on the hill is very bad, the water has long been drunk, the heavy machine gun is dumb, the barrel of the automatic rifle is also red, although the Berkman portable machine gun has a fast rate of fire and a great advantage in close combat, but there is a fatal shortcoming that it costs too much bullets, and after a day of fighting, the ammunition is close to exhaustion, and now it is mainly relying on rifle long-range fire to block the enemy's charge.

Seeing that the position was about to be broken through, Chen Zikun pulled out the command knife with a bang, the white gloves had already been blackened by the gunsmoke, but the blade was still bright.

"Brothers, come with me!" Chen Zikun, the commander of the Jiangbei Protector Army and major general of the 7th Mixed Brigade, jumped out of the trench first.

The meaning and effect of "charge me" and "charge me" are completely different, the guards take the lead, and the soldiers of the pistol battalion are all bloody men, how can they be willing to live behind, with the deafening shouts of killing, the three hundred brothers, except for the seriously wounded, all jumped out of the trenches, carrying box cannons and machetes to launch a counter-charge.

White-knuckle warfare is the most morale test, the provincial army has suffered defeats, morale has dropped to a critical point, and then encountered such a fatal counterattack, suddenly collapsed, the soldiers threw their guns away and ran, only hating their parents for having two legs.

Duan Haixiang saw that the situation was not good, and shot several officers who were retreating from the battle one after another, but still couldn't stop the decline, seeing that the battalion was about to be overwhelmed by the defeated soldiers, Division Commander Duan stomped his feet: "Machine gunners prepare!" ”

The water-cooled heavy machine guns of the battalion of the provincial army finally opened fire, and it was not the enemy, but their own defeated soldiers, countless defeated soldiers were swept down, and corpses were scattered all over the field, but the defeat was finally blocked.

"Reserves, up!" Duan Haixiang ordered.

Another regiment of fresh troops filled up, and the two sides launched a brutal white-knuckle battle, usually the exchange rate of white-knuckle battles was one to one, but that was the case of fighting bayonets, the most effective weapon in hand-to-hand combat was not a bayonet, but a pistol, and the brethren of the pistol battalion each had a box gun, and many of them were equipped with two guns, so the defeat of the provincial army was already doomed.

"Boom!" The shells exploded on the battlefield, the limbs of the explosion flew wildly, the flesh and blood were blurred, and the artillery of the provincial army opened fire regardless of the fact that their own people were still on the battlefield.

Chen Zikun hurriedly ordered a retreat, the pistol battalion came and went quickly, and quickly withdrew to the main position, and the provincial army pursued by victory, and a large area of black pressure surrounded it.

On the hill, Su Qingyan unbuttoned his pants: "Brothers, pee!" ”

A pot of urine was poured into the cooling sleeve of the heavy machine gun, and the machine gun, which had been silent for a while, roared again, and the bullet passed over the head of his own people and fell into the ranks of the provincial army, and suddenly the ghost cried wolf.

The provincial army's losses were still in vain, Duan Haixiang was exhausted, and was about to give the order to attack again, when a group of officers all knelt down for him.

"Division commander, you can't attack anymore, let's leave some seeds for the second division."

"Divisional commander, think about it in the long run."

"Division commander, please ask for help."

Duan Haixiang was upset, the powerful troops of one division and two other mixed brigades couldn't even clean up a miscellaneous mixed brigade, but they were defeated again and again, and he couldn't afford to lose this face.

"Lao Tzu still has 8,000 men and horses, so I don't believe that I can't beat a small mountain bag, who dares to persuade again, military law will be engaged!"

Staff Officer Xia stepped forward and said, "Division commander, we have been tricked." ”

Duan Haixiang said: "Nonsense, of course I know the scheme." ”

Xia Jingqi said: "I'm not talking about the plan to besiege the city and send reinforcements, but we shouldn't be dragged here by Chen Zikun." ”

Duan Haixiang patted his head: "Oops! That's right, pass my order, leave a regiment here, and the rest of the men and horses, pull out the camp and set up the village, attack the county seat, occupy his nest, I see how he jumps. ”

At this time, it was already dark, and the provincial army, which had been tossing for a day, had to work hard to dismantle the tent again, set off in a car, and complained one by one, full of complaints.

In the makeshift prisoner camp, a man who looked like an old man from the countryside pulled out a handful of puffers from his crotch and whispered, "Spread my word, let the brothers be smart, it's time to do it." ”