"Enter the attack line! Enter the attack line! ”

The sleeves of the officers of the Left Confederation of the Praetorian Guard were rolled up high, and everyone was exhausted but full of life. Clusters of torches shone brightly, and bayonets reflected these fires, shining in the night.

The main force of the Left Association of the Praetorian Guard has entered the battlefield!

The infantry battalion that arrived first had already been shot at by the Yue army, and the vanguard battalion was originally tasked with conducting fire reconnaissance when it encountered the enemy. Those who controlled the way forward to the death, with the strength of their leading battalion, could never rush through.

The vanguard battalion, that is, the battalion commanded by Li Xing, immediately switched to occupying the sortie position on the spot, and intensified its fire reconnaissance to wait for the arrival of the follow-up large force.

Xu Yifan rushed over from behind with a sweat, under the light of the fire, Li Yunzong and the officers at all levels of the town headquarters had gathered in a high place, the map was spread among them, everyone's eyes were focused on the map, everyone was half-squatting, surrounded Li Xing in the middle, everyone kept asking questions, and Li Xing also nervously continued to answer the explanation, along with his every explanation and explanation, there were officers of the town association who marked the map with red and blue pencils.

Xu Yifan only felt that he was exhausted to death, his legs were as heavy as lead, and he felt black in front of him when he climbed the small hillside, and looked around, Pu Yang and Chen De were not much better than him. Pu Yang's sleeves were almost rolled up to his shoulders, and the ash on his face was almost half an inch thick, flushing out deep grooves for sweat, and the sleeves were wiped again, and they were already black. When Xu Yifan climbed the slope, he was still busy adding a handle - Chen De didn't want to sell this courtesy, but although he was a martial arts practitioner, when he was in Yanjing City, compared to Pu Yang, a gangster from the clan, his figure was so good that it was heavenly. But after all, he has not undergone harsh and planned military training, and now he is just relying on his strength to hold on: "If you don't succeed in the master, can you be worse than the adult?" Not to mention that banner man...... How can this kid walk so much now? ”

Pu Yang carried a rifle on his back, hung two pistols, and Xu Yifan's total of 200 rifle bullets wrapped around his waist, and he could still take care of Xu Yifan, and Chen De could only look at the panting - if he took one more step, he was afraid that he would fall down at any time!

Xu Yifan finally climbed the hill next to the road, the rifle on his shoulder was as heavy as a mountain, and he also broke his shoulder, sweat poured down, and it hurt hotly, but his mouth was dry as if it was blocked by dust. He gasped and walked over to the officers who were gathered around, and none of the officers who were as tired as him looked up, just listened carefully to Li Xing's words.

"At least one brigade or more! The ammunition was quite sufficient, we conducted fire reconnaissance, and they fired at least ten platoons of guns! The breastwork has been erected, but there are no trenches, no deer barrages......

On the road, there are traces of the passage of the brigade, footprints, canned food boxes...... Fuck it's the supplies we distributed to Sheng Jun! It is said that the army brigade has passed here, and according to judgment, it should not take more than twelve hours...... My lord, we must launch an attack immediately, otherwise Anzhou will be in danger! ”

"When will you be able to attack?" Xu Yifan suddenly spoke, all the officers raised their heads, and everyone's eyes were heavy. Some people couldn't help but look north anxiously, as if they could see Anzhou from the end of the night. Then the officers reacted and all stood up and saluted.

Li Yunzong stepped over and gave a military salute calmly. Except for the same dust and sweat, the long march didn't seem to leave any traces on him, and his eyes were still as sharp as a knife: "My lord, it is expected that in an hour, the team will be sorted out and the attack will be launched." ”

"An hour?" Xu Yifan only felt that his throat was being cut by a knife, and he was about to choke on blood as soon as he said two words. Pu Yang behind him heard it, took off the kettle, shook it, and half a sip of water - all he saved. There were two kettles on his body, one for him and one for Xu Yifan, but he drank at most three sips and two sips along the way, and the rest was given to Xu Yifan. At this time, Er silently handed it over: "My lord, water." ”

Xu Yifan opened Pu Yang's kettle with a snap, and didn't look at him, just stared at Li Yunzong: "I want Anzhou!" If we delay by an hour, we will arrive in Anzhou an hour late! Yunzong, there are only two of us battalion recruits there! ”

Li Yunzong said lightly: "Even if it is a new soldier, it is also a Praetorian Guard, and there are officers we have trained to lead it, besides, Lord Yuan also rushed there." ”

Xu Yifan almost shouted. It was because Yuan Shikai rushed to him that he was not at ease! The Sheng army team was defeated and retreated, according to Zhang Youqiao's words, it was Yang Shixiang who was in the midst of the rain and clouds, and he knew too well what kind of person Yuan Shikai was. Yuan has always had a good feeling about power, and he was born in Beiyang, and betrayal was already commonplace for him. Betrayed from Beiyang to Ronglu, then rebelled from Ronglu to his command, and then rebelled back to Beiyang, just one back and forth!

Since Cishan was broken through, he has been controlling his emotions, and he has taken the lead in forcibly marching with guns on his back. After all, human nerves are not iron-beaten, and people's self-control is weakened by the decline of physical strength. Not to mention that all the responsibility is on his shoulders! The closer he got to Suchuanli, he couldn't help but start to hope that he was already extremely tired - maybe the army also suffered heavy casualties and needed to be repaired, right? Maybe Yue Jun was also afraid of the arrival of his brigade and didn't dare to go straight to Anzhou alone, Yue Jun's gambling surname was not so strong, right? Or even if the army arrives in Suchuan, but the covering force is weak, maybe as long as the vanguard battalion can rush through, right?

In fact, he himself knows Murphy's Law, as long as there is a possibility of going bad, it will definitely go bad. The brigade rushed to Anzhou, but what he saw was that the exhausting march came to a halt, and the soldiers rushed into the starting position of the attack under the leadership of the officer, and the return of the vanguard battalion was that the army had built a neat defensive line, and it was impossible to rush through! Li Yunzong also said that it will take at least another hour to launch an impact! After waiting for Suchuan-ri, and then rushing to Anzhou, maybe what was waiting for him was the sky-high fire, his rear road general base was burned down, he could only retreat to Pyongyang, give up all influence and initiative in this war, and it was a great thing to be able to protect himself!

Li Yunzong looked at him quietly: "My lord, we can't rush to attack...... A breakthrough must be achieved one at a time. ”

He pointed his hand to the north, as if the night could not block his sight: "The two highlands of 239 and 257 are said to be heavily armed, and they are strangling the road from here to Anzhou. If we want to make a detour, we can only climb the mountain, and there is no possibility of reaching Anju within 36 hours......"

In the direction he pointed, there were only two swarthy clumps, standing silently in the boundless darkness, and the gray-white road winded between the two small hills. I don't know how many troops are guarding it, choking the throat of the Praetorian Guard's path!

“…… Our army is also tired, and it has been able to hold on until now, just by virtue of the example of the adults, the example of the officers, and the blood sincerity of the soldiers to the Praetorian Guards and the adults! At the end of the strong crossbow, we can't wear the reckless, we may only have the ammunition and energy for one attack! If it fails once, the morale of the army will be frustrated, and it will have to be repaired for a long time to recover...... My lord, we arrived here after 24 hours of continuous marching, after all, there is a limit to the ability of the Praetorian Guard, and we don't have a lot of ammunition with us! One hour of preparation is already the bare minimum, this is to ensure that we can succeed in the first impact! ”

Listening to his explanation, Xu Yifan also calmed down. Having a general like Li Yunzong is a reassuring thing no matter what. Chu Wanli was full of changes and asked questions to know ten, while Li Yunzong was as calm as if his nerves were iron. The troops were tired and did not have much ammunition, so it was all the more necessary to ensure that the attack was assured. If he can't rush down once, he will be exhausted in three drums, and he will have to delay more time -- and what he is desperately fighting for now is time!

He looked as far north as he could, to see if the dark sky to the north was shining with fire—Anzhou was only forty miles away from him, and the forced march was only a few hours' road!

"Will the attack ensure success?" Xu Yifan stared at Li Yun and asked.

Li Yunzong was silent for a moment, and replied softly: "If it is only the rearguard of the army that originally attacked Cishan, the mark can ensure success......

Before he could finish speaking, Xu Yifan had already interrupted him: "It's the guard of the army, there is no other possibility!" Let's go down and prepare! I'm here watching you rush by! ”

Li Yunzong looked at Xu Yifan, pulled the corners of his mouth, didn't say much, beckoned, and took his officers down the mountain, each mastering the troops, when Li Xing passed by Xu Yifan, he wanted to say something, but in the end he lowered his head and strode down.

Xu Yifan stood there, he felt uncomfortable, under his feet was the fire of the brigade was rolling, and everyone's thoughts were focused on Anzhou, and they couldn't wait to fly over from Suchuanli!

"Anju...... Anzhou ......" Xu Yifan muttered two sentences in a low voice, and turned back to greet: "Water!" ”

Who would have thought, but when he looked back, he saw Pu Yangzheng raising his neck and pouring the last few drops of water into his mouth, and when he heard Xu Yifan asking for water, he wiped his mouth: "If you go back to your adult, it's gone!" ”

～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～～

The sound of gunfire and killing resounded in the dark night.

The sound of the charge of the army dragged out, approaching from all sides, and the covering bullets rained down like a forest, hitting the city wall of Anzhou, and the sound of bullets falling on the city bricks was everywhere.

Up and down the city, the fire is blazing.

Yuan Shikai stood at the head of the city, lying behind a battlement and looking at the battlefield in front of him, surrounded by guards, eager to tear him off the edge of the battlement. Since that daytime, the entire Anzhou has regarded Yuan Shikai as the backbone!

Yuan Shikai only had two battalions of Praetorian Guard recruits as the backbone, and these recruits only had basic military training, could queue up, and could put guns, and the others were gone. It was impossible to let them out to fight in the field in the city - they could not even build in the field. It is doubtful whether the army can still calmly resist to the end until hand-to-hand combat when they are put in the trench and put their guns in place, and the guns are simply put in front of them. It is not a simple thing to train him to fight as a team in full accordance with orders, firmly and calmly! It is indeed difficult for these two battalions of recruits to fight in the field according to the city, resist and retreat step by step, for them who were mostly peasants and illiterate a few months ago, not to mention that most of the officers here are from the second phase of Nanyang Academy, even if they have not completed their training! Xu Yifan concentrated Nanyang financial resources, and in two years, he worked hard, but he only trained an elite town that could fight!

Yuan Shikai simply stuffed these soldiers into Anzhou City, each on the city wall, each designated position, as long as the gun was released, it was impossible to retreat, he took the guards to inspect the small city wall at any time to enforce battlefield discipline.

At this time, the city was still full of people, waiting nervously - these were all sheng troops, and if one died in the city, the city would immediately make up for one. In addition to the slopes of the horse road, there are hundreds of bamboo ladders that reach the city and can be used as a reinforcement at any time. Rao is to stuff Anzhou City so full, he only accommodated half of the Sheng army, and the rest, he simply sent it to the north, away from the battlefield, and continued to let them run if he wanted to run, if he didn't run, after the battle, he Yuan Laozi wanted it! In the future, it will be the third town of the Praetorian Guard, and the salary will be twice as high as that of the Huai Army!

It is also a brain-bad thing to let these defeated and courageous Sheng troops go out to fight in the field, and it is difficult to stop the army for a minute. The organization is completely chaotic, and the equipment is not complete, even if the morale rises slightly, it is only the role of putting guns in the city. Yuan Shikai didn't have time to rectify them at all!

The three gates of Anzhou City are now blocked by stones, and thousands of people are crammed into the city. Going out of the city will definitely not be able to defeat the devil, Yuan Shikai made up his mind to be a turtle, as long as the devil can't bite in, even if the task is completed!

The four fields are shining with firelight, and they also reflect the waves of soldiers who are coming up in a ring. The castle was full of rifles, and the officers shouted orders to set their gauges and fire at them. These Praetorian Guard recruits were so nervous that they completely ignored the password, and just hurriedly kept firing, and the distance between the army and the army was still two thousand meters away, and the city was already filled with smoke, and there was a sporadic muzzle flame. Within the city cavity, there were crowded Sheng officers and soldiers, they were still wearing the Huai Army's trumpet, raising their heads and just looking at it nervously, and the black and oppressive heads were silent. After entering Anzhou City, this life will be sold to the Lord Yuan at the head of the city, if the city wall is broken, everyone will only have a spoonful of stew, so many people are crowded into such a small city with a big sesame seed, and they can't escape!

Looking at the shooting level of those recruits at the head of the city, many Sheng soldiers who thought they were veterans talked in low voices.

"Bodhisattva bless, Bodhisattva bless ......"

"What the fuck is a gun, the ruler won't be loaded!"

"Why don't we go up instead! It's not blowing, Lao Tzu said to hit the devil's left eye, don't hit the right eye! ”

"Count the ball and pull it down, everyone was not the same at the beginning, and when they saw the devil, they ran ......"

"Isn't that an official?"

"These are all recruits, and they only have a few months to wear...... The first town is said to be full of strong soldiers, God bless, they hurry up......"

The army was slowly approaching in a dense line of skirmishers, and under the rain of bullets, not a single person fired at it, and the officers stood on the side of the line, controlling the speed of the troops' advance. From time to time, people were shot and fell, but their queues were not chaotic, just moving at a steady pace. In night operations, although there are torches to illuminate, the hit rate is far worse than during the day, and the chaotic and nervous shooting of these recruits is more difficult to form a sufficient firepower density at this distance, and the casualties caused by this firepower and the pressure given are not as good as Nie Shicheng's troops in the first battle of Cishan, and the army has been steadily advancing!

Yuan Shikai picked at the brick cracks with his fingers, just staring at everything in front of him, looking at the outline of the waves outlined by the firelight, watching them move steadily in the rain of bullets, and from time to time someone fell, but the speed of the slow and steady surge of the wave has never decreased!

His face was expressionless, and the sweat in his vest was already flowing one after another. Is it right or wrong to bet on Anzhou by yourself?

In a short time, the army had advanced to the outside of the hastily dug trench around Anzhou, and at the command of the officer of the army, the soldiers of the first platoon fell half-kneeling, and then a salvo was fired. Advancing to the enemy's line of fire and suffocating the enemy's fire with dense rifle fire is the standard attack method of any army trained according to the modern military discipline of the West.

The firepower of the salvo far exceeded that of the Praetorian Guard recruits at the head of the city, and a rain of bullets came, and the people at the head of the city turned on their backs. Screams of surprise and screams rang out, and behind Yuan Shikai, a guard fell to the sky without humming, and the bullets hit the battlements around Yuan Shikai into smoke and dust.

Several guards wanted to pull Yuan Shikai down, but he opened it violently. His heart had long been tightened, and he wanted to jump down at any time, but his movements were reviewed with a cold face, and he shouted: "Is there any retreat?" ”

Then there was a hearty shout: "Brothers, Lord Xu is coming at the same time, and the first town is rushing here!" The devil is not iron, let's fight! One for the other, there are so many of us, see how many devils it takes to change! ”

In the sound of gunfire, Yuan Shikai's roar overpowered the gunfire for a while! He'd pulled a rifle and opened fire! The guards behind him don't pull him anymore, the chief officers are like this, what else is there to say? One by one, they all lay down at the battlements and shoot down, anyway, there are bullets, let's shoot!

I have to say that Yuan Shikai is already the hope of the army in the city, a bunch of recruits and defeated troops look at him like this, what else is there to say, the fallen are carried away, the vacant place, the people on standby at the bottom climbed up the bamboo ladder without saying a word, took the gun and began to shoot, the officer no longer issued the order to fire a salvo, the devil was under the nose, their tattered clothes and dirty leggings could be seen clearly, just fight desperately, it is nothing more than a life for a life!

Above and below the city, the fires of the two sides were surging back and forth, the smoke was filled, and the gunfire became tighter and tighter, until it was impossible to hear it. It is said that the army has no heavy firepower, and Anzhou City has no heavy firepower - every machine gun that can be used has been concentrated on the front line in Pyongyang by Xu Yifan, including every shooter who can fiddle with machine guns, and there are many gunners in the Sheng army, but they are really not placed on the city wall, and they are all concentrated in the street fortifications in the city to control the streets. The two sides are fighting rifle firepower, the army shoots accurately and intensively, and the defenders win because they have a steady stream of manpower to replenish the line of fire, and there are endless bullets, and no one on either side can suffocate the other side in a burst of fire!

At such a close distance, the casualties of the Yue army also increased greatly, and people kept climbing into the trenches, but their second line also followed. A temporary bamboo ladder was erected on top of the trench, and only one was erected, that is, a group of people rushed up, and some people kept staggering and falling, but more people rushed over, and after crossing the trench, they pulled the bamboo ladder, and after advancing dozens of steps, they were staggering to be erected on the city wall, and the army that provided fire support on the outside of the trench fired a more crazy salvo. The officer at the head of the city shouted loudly to transfer the firepower, and the concentrated shooting had forced the army under the city, many rifles turned around, and more people pushed those ladders, but the people under the city were desperately resisting with their bodies, and the firepower of both sides was desperately firing, and the corpses were increasing one by one, and the height of Anzhou City was no more than three meters, and the rifles that both sides desperately stretched out were about to touch the muzzle! Each other's faces could be seen clearly, all of them nervous and twisted, shouting and shooting at each other!

"How can the defenders have so many soldiers?" Katsura Taro in the distance held up a telescope and muttered to himself. None of the staff officers behind him answered, and everyone clenched their binoculars tightly.

In the small city of Anzhou, almost all of the more than 3,000 people in the army are combat soldiers, and they can be attacked in a circle. With such a fierce battle, it is better that the defenders did not collapse, but the combat level is indeed the level of new recruits. The only surprising thing is that the firepower of the city has not diminished in the slightest!

"We ...... Probably a breakthrough, right? A staff officer was muttering to himself again.

The current city of Anzhou is densely covered with people like ants, and the city is really small. The army had already escalated the ladder, and the top was desperately resisting with bullets and bayonets. But the army has advanced to such a point alone, victory is in sight, how can it retreat? The shouts of killing on both sides overshadowed the gunshots and soared into the night sky, encircling all sides. In such a small city, as long as you break in, you will be victorious! The defenders didn't even have room to retreat and resist!

Katsura Taro put down his binoculars and looked at his pocket watch. At 8:30 p.m. on the 29th, the 6th and 68th wings of the army rushed to attack, preparing to launch an attack at two o'clock, and perhaps before 10 o'clock, the situation in Korea could be decided, right? The initiative on this battlefield is now in the hands of our Third Division!

Before he could lift his gaze from his pocket watch, he heard a rumbling explosion, first one and then a flurry of explosions. When I looked up, I saw a flash of explosion around the city wall, and black and slimy things were constantly being dropped from the city.

One of the staff officers screamed: "They dropped the shells!" ”

The defenders of the city did drop all the shells and warheads, and at this time, the shells, especially the land artillery, were basically triggered by the tip of the bullet, and they exploded when they touched it. The soldiers of the Praetorian Guard, all of whom were recruits, prepared these things, and the shells with fuses were afraid in their hands, and when they tried to throw, they threw themselves not far away, and they were killed and wounded. It's not a grenade, there's a delay tube, and there's a few seconds of buffer time to throw it out! Yuan Shikai hit the idea of the mountains of cannonballs in Anzhou City, but when he saw this situation, he didn't dare to put these cannonballs with fuses on the head of the city, bump and bump, and blew a lot of them to death first. I had to concentrate the warheads that were not equipped with fuses and put them under the city, and selected some veteran gunners of the Sheng Army to prepare, in case of danger, put on the fuses and then hand them over and throw them down!

The gunfight just now was fierce, from top to bottom, no one expected this stubble, but now the army is dense under the city, risking death to rush up, bullet to bullet, bayonet to bayonet, both sides are red eyes. After all, the army is an elite soldier who has been fighting for a long time, the guns are accurate, the people are fierce, and they have already attacked the city of Anzhou, and they didn't think of retreating at all. Seeing that the city head couldn't stop it desperately, I don't know which officer shouted: "Get on the cannonballs, get on the cannonballs!" ”

After the gunners of the Sheng army loaded the fuse, the people lined up to hand the shells up, and at this time, they threw them down and smashed them down before they held them. Almost half of the successful impact was detonated, and the shrapnel of the cannonballs whistled and flew in all directions, and the hedgehogs on both sides gathered under the wall no more than three meters high, whether it was above or below, and suddenly a large number of them fell!

A shrapnel whizzed past Yuan Shikai, turned on the battlements, and pierced into his arm, making him tremble in pain. Around him, there had already been a mess of battles, and there were many corpses, there were recruits wearing big-brimmed hats in the second town of the Praetorian Guard, and there were also Sheng troops in Baotou Kan, several bamboo ladders in front of him had already been knocked down, and there were more corpses of the army below, and the wounded soldiers screamed and crawled towards the trench, only inside the trench, there was a slight room for shelter. People kept coming to his position from under the city, and they shot when they touched the gun, and several of his guards didn't know where they were.

The shells exploded, and within the range of shrapnel, people fell in pieces. In Anzhou City, human life has become the least valuable thing. Yuan Shikai's eyes were already blood-red, he understood that since he decided to go to Anzhou, he had no way out, either he would win or die here! He didn't believe that Xu Yifan would ignore Anzhou!

As soon as he gritted his teeth, he had already pulled out the bloody shrapnel, and then yelled: "Fight the devil!" If you want to be rich, you have to fight with your life! ”

"Your Excellency, is there an order to retreat and sort it out?" A staff officer asked aloud.

Katsura Taro waved his hand, gritted his teeth with a blue face, and said, "Let's go to the reserves." ”

"Your Excellency?"

"Do we have a way back?" Katsura Taro pointed to the bleeding city walls on both sides, and pointed to the fire that reflected the head of the city: "We only have to take Anju!" Reserves, forward! ”

(To be continued)