"Smack-"

The crisp sound of gunfire resounded through the valley, and the enemy officers on horseback on the road down the mountain fell in response, and the blood and brains flying from the broken heads splashed the faces of several officers and soldiers on the march around them.

Peng Zisong's gunshot announced the beginning of the attack.

The enemy troops marching in a long line at the foot of the mountain exclaimed, and the officers and men who lacked training and adaptability were in a mess, and few of them thought of spreading out and raising their guns to counterattack.

The other two sniper teams fired accurate bullets one after another, knocking down several other enemy officers on horseback in a blink of an eye, two M1915 light machine guns loaded with seventy rounds of drums calmly fired one after another, one of them accurately knocked down the target of the heavy machine gun in the enemy team, and the other aimed at the enemy cavalry in front of the road. The sound of the impact of the war horses and the screams of the bullets came and went, and the entire valley of more than 100 meters long was filled with wails and chaos.

Fan Shu, who was crawling on the edge of the mountain beam and preparing to shoot, was on fire, and the first enemy officer he aimed at was killed by Peng Zisong first, and just turned the muzzle of the gun to aim at another officer on horse, before adjusting the focus of his eyes, the unlucky officer had already been shot and knocked off the horse.

Next, Fan Shusheng was even more annoyed.

In more than two minutes, Fan Shusheng, who was always half a beat slow, did not shoot a single shot, the enemy troops under the mountain were already in chaos, and the officers on horseback dismounted and concealed under the ruthless and accurate blows, and it was impossible to find the target of the enemy's chaotic army.

The enemy troops were already in great confusion, the east-west intersection was crowded with terrified officers and men and horses who could not advance or retreat, the cornfield tens of meters long and wide on the south side of the road was crowded with black and oppressive figures, the runaway war horses rushed into the empty cornfield and trampled wildly, the enemy officers and men who had been beaten stupidly ran everywhere like headless flies, the rain of bullets splashed on the southern mountain beam covered from east to west, and one after another enemy officers and soldiers had fallen in this death zone more than 100 meters long and wide without seeing the enemy.

At the eastern bend of the road, hundreds of officers and men rushed for their lives, and the bullets that flew from time to time accurately knocked down officers who sacrificed their lives and raised their arms to resist, frightening the enemy into scattering and hiding everywhere, thus exacerbating the degree of chaos.

Li Bingzhi, the commander of the 13th Mixed Brigade who was dragged to the rock by several guards, roared loudly, kicked the guards in front of him, suddenly broke free from the big hands of the two personal guards, rushed to the edge of the boulder, pulled out his binoculars and hurriedly observed, suddenly climbed onto the boulder, drew his pistol, and shouted loudly in the face of the whistling bullets:

"Spread out, spread out and lie down! Machine gun company, set up a machine gun for Lao Tzu to return fire, there are not many enemies on the southern mountain beam, counterattack, counterattack! ”

"Traveler be careful—"

The personal guard relied on his instinctive reaction, flew up and jumped on the boulder nearly two meters high, regardless of Li Bingzhi, who gave the order with his gun, the moment the two bodies collided, several machine gun bullets shattered half of the neck and shoulders of the guard chief, and the blood and flesh sprayed out from Li Bingzhi's head and face.

Li Bingzhi, who fell heavily on the rock, ignored the pain in his body and the pistol and hat that he didn't know where to fly, hugged the mutilated body of the head of the guard, and screamed in pain.

Fifteen minutes passed, and the five heralds rode into the midst of the officers and men who were fiercely returning fire, shouting "stop shooting" while beating their horses, and the heralds rode their horses and ran back and forth in pools of corpses and blood everywhere, before the dense gunfire stopped, and everyone realized that there was no movement on the high mountain beam 300 meters away.

When Cao Kun, who was two kilometers behind the east side of the battlefield, received the news of the attack, he surprisingly did not lose his temper, but immediately consulted urgently with Chief of Staff Xiong Bingqi and Rear Army Commander Wu Xiangzhen.

Since the road was almost entirely winding mountain roads and narrow depressions, it was impossible to set up a formation and launch artillery counterattacks against the attacking enemy who occupied favorable terrain.

After a nervous weighing, the three of them made the decision to speed up the march at all costs.

As soon as the order was delivered, the chief of staff of the 13th Mixed Brigade rode forward covered in blood, he jumped off his horse and rushed a few steps, half-knelt in front of Cao Kun, and wept bitterly:

"Division, our brigade was seriously wounded in the enemy's attack, the commander of the first infantry regiment and four battalion commanders were killed in a daze, the first battalion of the cavalry regiment directly under the regiment suffered nearly half of the casualties, and the regimental deputy Lu Lin was trampled to death by a war horse...... Shizuo, his subordinates have followed the commander and the division to fight in the north and south for more than ten years, and they have never fought such a sloppy defeat, and they didn't even see the enemy's shadow clearly, so they lost their troops and killed and wounded all over the place, what kind of foolish battle is this, Shizuo ......"

When Cao Kun heard this, he burst into tears, strode up and hugged his old subordinates, and comforted him, and the surrounding generals and guards shed tears together

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, five kilometers southwest of Wanxian County, Lingguan Temple, the joint headquarters of the Sichuan Army.

Sun Zhaoluan, commander of the Third Division of the Sichuan Army, Wang Lingji, commander of the Fourth Division, and seven or eight brigade commanders and regiment commanders who participated in the pre-war preparatory meeting gathered together to praise the brilliant results achieved by the small force in the two attacks.

Xiao Yimin was also full of smiles, but what he was most proud of was not the amazing record of destroying the enemy and injuring one regiment of the enemy in the two attacks, but the fact that the communications battalion under his command, which had been training hard for a year, had finally played its role, and in just one day, it had smoothly and quickly set up a telephone line with a total length of 160 kilometers, so that all kinds of information from the front could be smoothly transmitted to the headquarters in the shortest possible time.

This meritorious achievement of the communications battalion indicates that the army under the command of Xiao Yimin has already marched in the forefront of modern warfare, far ahead of all other armed forces in China, and has laid a solid foundation for the next step of the army's communications construction and summing up experience.

"Commander Xiao, do you think Cao Kun still dares to come?" Sun Zhaoluan asked worriedly.

Xiao Yimin pointed to Bao Jiqing, the chief of staff who was signing for the information:

"Chief of Staff Bao and Cao Kun are more familiar, since Chief of Staff Bao said that Cao Kun is coming, I don't think he will go back halfway, otherwise how will General Cao Kun explain to Yuan Dashuai, who is looking forward to it?"

Everyone laughed when they heard this, Wang Lingji said with a smile: "Cao Kun is a man with a quick surname, he has not suffered such a big loss in the army for many years, it is estimated that he can't swallow this breath, how to rush to Wanxian County, if he retreats, I am afraid that thousands of people will starve to death along the way, unless he kills horses to satisfy hunger." ”

The generals smiled again, and Bao Jiqing came back with a big piece of information and briefly informed everyone:

"Yang Sen's regiment has arrived at Tiefeng to rest and be on standby, and Liu Xiang's regiment in the south of the Yangtze River has also arrived at the front line of the Sanwang Temple to be on standby, and the heroes from all walks of life on the river are very face-saving, and the three hundred ships we need are gathered on the south bank and ready, and the following is to wait with peace of mind."

The generals deeply admired Bao Jiqing, who planned the battle, and surrounded Yucheng with suspicious troops, mobilized the main force of the four brigades to quietly lay down the big pocket of Wanxian, and concentrated troops to take the lead in annihilating Cao Kun's huge plan.

In the next deployment of troops, Wang Lingji put forward a dazzling suggestion:

"Commander, Chief of Staff Bao, if we let go of the way out east of Wanxian, launch a fierce attack from the north and south banks and behind the enemy's army, and force Cao Kun to flee to Yucheng, which is the only way to survive, and then all the troops will follow the pursuit, and pursue it until Yucheng and then surround it, it will be more politically advantageous."

Wang Lingji immediately transferred the 1st Brigade of the 4th Division, which had blocked the main road west of Wanxian County to the south, ordered the brigade commander Deng Xihou to return to the troops, build a three-layer defensive position along the river, and ordered the commander of the artillery regiment to go back to change the target of the attack, reset the shelling of Zhuyuan, and never let Cao Kun's troops flee south along the relatively flat riverbank.

Sun Zhaoluan, commander of the Third Division, also immediately made minor adjustments, ordering the two brigades under his command to completely lock up all roads in the north, and divide one part of the army to support Yang Sen's troops who were attacking from the rear of the enemy, forcing Cao Kun to flee to Yucheng by land in the west of the city.

Xiao Yimin stopped Deng Xihou, who turned around excitedly, and sent a communications staff officer to follow him to set up a telephone line to facilitate mutual communication and command.

(To be continued)