Feng Guozhang thought very clearly, since the defeat of the Qianjiang Campaign, the morale of the entire Beiyang from top to bottom has fallen badly. Although some time ago, he took the money of the entire Hubei army and political axe as a reward, which boosted the morale of the Beiyang officers and soldiers, but after all, the lonely sun did not last long, and it was difficult to stand firm. Therefore, if you want to boost the morale of the whole army, the best medicine is to win the battle.

And the cavalry in front of him is the best medicine given by God...

"Fourth brother, nine out of ten are stable..."

Duan Qirui on the side also saw what Feng Guozhang meant, and nodded after thinking for a while.

When the other officers heard Duan Qirui say this, they also hurriedly chimed in.

"Yes, if you have two cavalry regiments, you will basically be nine out of ten..."

"That's right, and we really need a win right now to boost morale..."

Naturally, these officers were also very clear about the situation of the Beiyang Army. And at present, the Beiyang Army really needs a victory to boost morale, even if this victory is simply insignificant for the entire campaign.

After hearing the words of Duan Qirui and the other officers, Feng Guozhang finally nodded heavily.

"Let Meng Xiaozeng and Nanyuan Chao fight, and tell them that they must give me a beautiful victory..."

Meng Xiaozeng's Department and Nanyuanchao's Department are the First Cavalry Regiment and the Third Cavalry Regiment of the Beiyang Army, which belong to the First and Third Divisions of the Beiyang Army respectively (both are historical facts), and they are considered elite even in the six towns of Beiyang. Feng Guozhang let the two of them go to the group at one time, naturally hoping that Meng Xiaozeng and Nanyuan would be beautiful.

As for whether Meng Xiaozeng's department and Nanyuanchao's department are the opponents of the Guoshe cavalry army in front of them? Feng Guozhang admitted that the Kuomintang Army was very strong, but that was mainly in terms of equipment and firepower. Artillery, Makqin, this is the key to the strength of the National Social Army, but if there is no such heavy firepower equipment, then Feng Guozhang does not think that the National Social Army will be the opponent of Beiyang under his command.

On this point, Beiyang and even other warlords have also reached a consensus.

And what about this cavalry army in front of you? If nothing else, it's impossible for them to carry artillery weighing hundreds of kilograms or even tons on horseback, right? At least Feng Guozhang has not seen any artillery, even if it is only a small-caliber light artillery.

And the fact is indeed as Feng Guozhang thought, the current Zhou Zining Department on the opposite side is indeed not equipped with artillery―――――― or they used to be equipped with 37mm light infantry guns, but they were later replaced. The reason for this is that the 37mm infantry gun is still too heavy, and it is not very convenient to use. Moreover, in this era, the main task of the cavalry was to harass, not to attack the fortifications, and to let them ride their horses into other people's trenches was purely to seek death.

So when the revolver grenade launcher was put into production, the National Cavalry began to replace the 37mm infantry gun with a grenade launcher.

As the main division with the strongest internal combat power of the National Socialist Army, the cavalry regiment of the 3rd Division is naturally the highest priority...

Also in order to understand the opponent, Beiyang also bought a lot of people within the National Social Army to spy on some intelligence of the National Social Army. However, after these people were unlucky in Beiyang, they either took the initiative to cut off contact with Beiyang, or they were almost cleaned up by the Military Defense Bureau, plus what Yuan Shikai wanted to know was mainly the political and economic strength of the National Social Army, so he didn't think about understanding what a grenade launcher was. So Feng Guozhang didn't know what a grenade launcher was, let alone how powerful a grenade launcher was...

So...

――――――――――

"Commander, they really came out!"

Looking at the two cavalry regiments that rushed out in the distance, Bu Qingsong, the chief of staff of the cavalry regiment, said loudly to Zhou Zining.

Looking at the two cavalry regiments rushing out in the distance, Zhou Zining also nodded.

"And what I thought was really good..."

Of course, Zhou Zining didn't casually enter the strike range of the Beiyang artillery, he was just gambling that in the case of the Beiyang Army's morale plummeting, Feng Guozhang would use his cavalry regiment to boost the morale of the army...

Therefore, Zhou Zining proposed a plan to the division, that is, to use his own cavalry regiment as a bait to lure out 1 or 2 of the Beiyang cavalry regiments, and then in front of all the Beiyang troops, these lured out cavalry troops will be taught a hard lesson in front of all the Beiyang troops, and the morale of the Beiyang Army will be completely collapsed, and the difficulty of the follow-up troops' attack will be reduced...

Of course, there are several difficulties in doing so.

The first is whether the Beiyang Army will come out? If Feng Guozhang didn't have confidence in his cavalry, then Zhou Zi would rather come for nothing.

The second is that if Zhou Zining wants to lure the Beiyang Cavalry out, then he must let his cavalry enter the artillery range of the Beiyang Army, of course, there is no need to enter too much, as long as it reaches the limit range of the Beiyang Artillery Army. But even so, the sea trial has to take a great risk, after all, if the Beiyang Army does not send cavalry out, but directly uses artillery bombardment, although Zhou Zining has let the cavalry led by him form a scattered formation, but there will still be a lot of casualties, but Feng Guozhang also has hundreds of 75mm guns on the ground―――――― of course, if the plan can be successful, the results will definitely be greater than the risks paid...

As for the third point, and the most important point, that is, if Feng Guozhang really sent cavalry to attack, then whether Zhou Zining was sure to defeat these Beiyang cavalry troops.

You must know that the cavalry is more or less a technical class than the infantry, and the complexity of training is higher than that of the infantry, and the Beiyang Cavalry has been famous for a long time. If it's the infantry army, those people in the division headquarters are not very worried, although the quality of the infantry army is also not up to the Beiyang Army, but we can use heavy firepower to smash the other party, but if it is a cavalry...

"Are you sure?"

This is the division's answer to Zhou Zining's plan, you must know that in Hanyang, the Beiyang Army has at least more than 10 cavalry regiments. What's more, after Feng Guozhang saw that there was only one cavalry regiment for Zhou Zining, it was impossible for him to send only one cavalry regiment out like him. And Zhou Zining is now considered to be the vanguard, if the vanguard encounters Feng Guozhang's head and breaks the bloodstream, it will be the National Social Army that will be greatly injured at that time.

As for the division's answer, Zhou Zining's reply was only one word.

"Yes!"

Although there is no artillery support, there is also no heavy machine gun support, and it is not as good as Beiyang in equestrian and other aspects, but the Guoshe cavalry still has its own advantages.

"Equip superiority!"

Even without artillery and Maxim, even the 37mm infantry guns were replaced, and at the same time grenades did not play a big role in cavalry combat (throw forward, rush forward...). But the Cavalry still had a new replacement of the Wheel Grenade Launcher and ―――――― Madsen light machine gun...

Needless to say, the former has a muzzle velocity of 100 meters per second and no need to worry about blowing yourself up, while the latter?

As a lethal weapon with an empty gun weighing less than 10 kg and a magazine load of 100 rounds. The 8mm caliber Madsen may not be as good as the Maxim in foot combat, but it can definitely play the role of a killer in cavalry combat...

In other words, Makqin is where Zhou Zining's confidence lies.

――――――――――

"Brother, the opportunity to make a contribution has finally arrived."

As a cavalry army, the defensive battle was basically nothing for them, so Meng Xiaozeng and Nan Yuanchao were the same as the commanders of several other cavalry regiments. For example, Zhang Jiuqing, Zhang Peirong, Wang Engui and others could only drink together in the headquarters on the outskirts of Hanyang City. (The above names are historical facts...) ）

It's just that while they were still drinking there, a herald suddenly ran in outside, asking Meng Xiaozeng and Nan Yuanchao, who were drinking with their colleagues, to prepare and attack the Guoshe cavalry that was swimming outside the Hanyang defense line.

Hearing such an order, Meng Xiaozeng, who thought that at least the Hanyang Battle was nothing to do, immediately became excited, and then pulled Nan Yuanchao out of the headquarters with the envious or worried eyes of several other colleagues.

How powerful is the National Social Army? Meng Xiao had only heard of it, because their Beiyang 1st Division arrived in Hubei after the defeat in the Battle of Qianjiang. However, Meng Xiaozeng still knows the power of the National Socialist Artillery Army, after all, Meng Xiaozeng is still very clear about the ability of his colleagues, since all his colleagues have been defeated, the National Socialist Army naturally cannot be underestimated.

However, cavalry warfare is different from land warfare, and it is impossible for the National Social Army to use a 210mm howitzer on horseback, right? So although he knew the strength of the National Socialist Army, Meng Xiaozeng didn't care much about it, in his opinion, maybe the infantry army in Beiyang was not as good as the National Society, but it was definitely stronger than the National Socialist Army in terms of cavalry.

What's more, the herald has made it very clear just now, there is only one regiment of more than 1,100 people in the Guoshe cavalry army on the periphery of the Hanyang defense line, but now Feng Guozhang is letting Meng Xiaozeng and Nan Yuanchao's two regiments go together, with a 2:1 troop allocation, even if the equipment of the Guoshe Army is better than his own in cavalry warfare, Meng Xiaozeng does not think that he will lose.

However, compared with Meng Xiaozeng, Nan Yuanchao was much more worried...

Unlike Meng Xiaozeng, who had just arrived in Hubei from the south, Nan Yuanchao's second division ......... But he has seen a battle with the National Social Army. Although Nan Yuanchao's cavalry regiment did not dispatch at that time, the equipment of the National Social Army still gave Nan Yuanchao a great touch.

What's more, the infantry of the National Social Army is so well equipped, who knows if the cavalry will also produce some moths?

But anyway, since the order has been issued, Nan Yuan Chao naturally has to carry it out, so after hearing Meng Xiaozeng's excited words, Nan Yuanchao did not answer, but still walked out of the command headquarters with heavy steps.

Wait until the two of them return to their own units, and then rush out with their equally idle and idle subordinates...

Just when Meng Xiaozeng and Nan Yuanchao were assembling troops, Zhou Zining was also a little impatient, and he was even thinking in his heart, were those Beiyang troops afraid to come out when they were beaten in Qianjiang? Fortunately, Meng Xiaozeng and Nan Yuanchao happened to rush out at this time, otherwise Zhou Zining would have already turned his horse and given up the task.

"These guys have finally come out..."

With a bitter sigh, Zhou Zining said to the chief of staff on the side.

"Let's get some back from the brothers."

"Yes!" Bu Qingsong nodded, and then commanded his subordinates loudly.

Not long after, Zhou Zining's cavalry regiment had already turned the horse's head and retreated 2 kilometers away―――――― this was planned before the departure, and the cavalry below also learned some details before the departure, so when they turned the horse's head and retreated, there was no confusion.

After noticing Zhou Zining's actions, Nan Yuanchao and Meng Xiaozeng signaled their subordinates to slow down, and then observed with a telescope.

After seeing the actions of the Beiyang Cavalry, Zhou Zining, who had already retreated about 2 kilometers, chuckled.

Of course, he will retreat not because there is an ambush here, in fact, there is no possibility of any ambush in the terrain here, the endless terrain, even if there is any ambush, he can see through it at a glance, he will let his subordinates retreat just because he wants to withdraw out of the range of the Beiyang Artillery Army―――――― of course, the Beiyang Artillery Army will never dare to fire when the two are in a melee, after all, the ratio of the two sides is 2:1, if you really fire in the melee, according to the proportion, the Beiyang Army will definitely kill more people.

However, when Zhou Zining defeated the Beiyang cavalry, if the Beiyang artillery opened fire, it would be troublesome. After all, not to mention the casualties of his own side at that time, the formation will become dense again due to the battle, and if Feng Guozhang lets his hundreds of cannons bombard, even if Zhou Zining wins, he will be blown up by Feng Guozhang's artillery.

Just after Zhou Zining's department turned the horse's head again 2 kilometers away, Meng Xiaozeng's department and Nanyuanchao's department had also rushed over.

"Heavy, shoot !!"

After receiving the order, the 48 cavalry machine gunners in the front row took the modified Madsen light machine gun and fired at Meng Xiaozeng's and Nan Yuanchao's troops who were rushing towards their side.

Although Madsen's accuracy was not very good because of the distance and recoil, the power of the salvo of 48 light machine guns still swept down a large part of the cavalry of the Beiyang Cavalry, but those Beiyang cavalry were not afraid of death, and fought back with their carbines while galloping wildly.

Although the effective range of the rifle is generally about 300 meters, the range of the ruler is 2,000 meters after all, plus the terrain here is flat, and the cavalry of Zhou Zining's department are all standing on horseback, so in the process of the Beiyang cavalry returning fire, there are still many cavalry of the Chinese Social Army who were shot down from their horses. However, compared with the National Socialist Army, the losses of the Beiyang Cavalry were greater, after all, the Mauser G98 rifle in the hands of the National Socialist Army was much stronger than the 1888 Commission rifle in the hands of the Beiyang Army...

It's just that compared with Makqin, Madsen still has a lot of disadvantages after all, such as the 8mm caliber and the magazine instead of the chain shooting. 48 Madsen machine guns with 100 rounds of ammunition magazines, 4,800 rounds of ammunition and more than 1,000 Mauser rifles, so that the Beiyang cavalry paid at least 4 or 500 people while galloping on horseback.

And when the Beiyang cavalry rushed to a distance of 300 meters, it had to be washed by 48 wheeled grenade launchers. At a distance of 300 meters, although the grenade launcher is not yet semi-automatic, it is enough to throw all 6 grenades loaded in it ...

"! Damn it! Damn it! ”

While undergoing the baptism of heavy firepower, the Beiyang cavalry continued to return fire with guns on horseback.

Although in the process of counterattacking, the Beiyang Cavalry also caused Zhou Zining's troops to disappear by one or two hundred, but it was obvious that the losses of the Beiyang Army were significantly more than those of the National Social Army.

Braving the rain of bullets while riding their horses to fight back, every Beiyang cavalry kept scolding in their hearts. Although they had long known that the equipment of the National Social Army was good enough, they did not expect that even the equipment of the cavalry would be so rebellious.

Forget about light machine guns alone, there are things as powerful as small-caliber artillery ...

Fortunately, the distance between them is getting closer and closer, and the Beiyang Army will soon be able to use the sabre in their hands to teach these national social armies a lesson.

"All, draw your sword!"

Seeing that the distance between them was less than 100 meters, Meng Xiaozeng, who had been shot in the shoulder, shouted at his subordinates, and Nan Yuanchao on the other side did the same. Compared with Meng Xiaozeng, who was shot in the shoulder, Nan Yuanchao's luck was better, at least he didn't get a shot.

After hearing the shouts of Meng Xiaozeng and Nan Yuanchao, the Beiyang cavalry to which he belonged drew their sabers one after another.

The series of bullets just now made the Beiyang cavalry who boasted of excellent equestrian skills very angry, and now that it has reached this point, these Beiyang cavalry naturally want to use their sabers to teach those guys on the other side who only know how to bully people with light machine guns.

And after seeing that all the Beiyang cavalry troops who rushed over drew their sabers, Zhou Zining also signaled his subordinates to draw their sabers―――――― someone once proposed to equip each cavalry with a pistol, For example, the Browning with a caliber of 11.43 mm, after all, the pistol played well in the trench warfare of the Qianjiang Campaign, and the person who proposed it naturally hoped that the large-caliber pistol could make new achievements in cavalry warfare, and the 11.43 mm caliber bullet, even if it did not hit the vital point, was enough to shoot the cavalry on horseback off the horse, but in the end this proposal was rejected by the cavalry.

The cavalry is not synchronized, and the battle requires extremely high speed to intersperse the battle, and if you use a pistol in the process, it is combined with the bumps on horseback and the high-speed enemy army that is also a cavalry......... The likely surname of a friendly soldier who was accidentally injured is higher than the likely surname of a person who hit an enemy soldier, so for cavalry, although a pistol is good, the most reliable thing in battle is still a carabine and a saber after all...

After receiving Zhou Zining's order, the cavalry under his subordinate also drew their sabers.

At present, after the counterattack of the Beiyang cavalry just now, although there are only more than 800 people left in Zhou Zining's department, there are only more than 1,000 people left in the Beiyang cavalry on the opposite side. The difference in numbers between the two is not big, at least not as big as in the early days, Zhou Zining's cavalry naturally does not need to be afraid, not to mention that they are riding high-headed horses imported from abroad by Yan Guang, compared with the Mongolian horses of the Beiyang cavalry, they will definitely not occupy a disadvantage in battle...

"Cavalry regiment! Let's go! ”

"Yes!"

(To be continued)