On August 6th, this season is the hottest period of the year, and in the trenches outside the Wusong Fort, many soldiers are wearing thin summer military uniforms, but one by one they are still sunburned.

And above the fortress, a large number of high-ranking generals also braved the last battle arrangements of the Red Sun author!

Since the morning when all the movements of the British and French forces were discovered, the Chinese army entered a state of preparedness for response, many shells originally stored in the ammunition depot were urgently moved to the side of the artillery position, the gun jacket covering the artillery was lifted out, and more infantry quickly entered the predetermined position from the barracks along the communication trenches.

When the Chinese army in the Wusong Fort was preparing for battle, in the direction of Luodian, about ten kilometers north of the Wusong Fort, Shi Qingxuan also got the news of the large-scale dispatch of the coalition forces in the front, and quickly convened the senior generals for a pre-war mobilization meeting, and he made relevant tactical arrangements.

In this kind of battlefield where the two sides are opposed, it is impossible for either side to hide from the enemy, and as soon as the British and French forces moved, the Chinese army began to prepare for war.

The Seventh Army in the direction of the Wusong Fort, the Second Army about three kilometers away from the fort, and the Sixth Army in the direction of Luodian were all ready.

Regardless of whether the Anglo-French forces were going south or north, a major war was inevitable!

On a small high ground away from the coalition landing camp, several cavalrymen wearing Chinese army uniforms observed the coalition soldiers in the distance from a distance, and a large number of coalition soldiers set off from the camp, and then lined up a neat phalanx outside the camp, just looking at the past. You will find that there are nearly 20,000 coalition troops in this battle.

"Look, they're out of formation!" With the voice of one of the scouts. Several others also looked up.

I saw that the coalition soldiers who were still in line began to move slowly, and most of them were coming towards the north. Some of them are also kept over there.

"They're coming to us, quick, you go back immediately and report the situation!"

When the scouts saw this, one of the scouts immediately got on their horses and quickly ran to the position of the Sixth Army a few kilometers to the north, while the others stayed and continued to observe.

However, they did not stay long, because they soon found that there were several teams of coalition cavalry searching for the periphery, and due to the large number of coalition cavalry coming, they naturally would not resist a few scouts. Instead, it quickly retreats backwards.

However, behind them, a group of cavalry of the Chinese Army also slowly came up, this is the cavalry company belonging to the Eighth Infantry Division.

In this year's expansion plan, although the Chinese army has a plan to build two cavalry regiments, it is actually trapped by a shortage of horses, and most of the newly formed cavalry units can only be organized according to one company and one company, and it is very difficult to be able to allocate enough cavalry companies to the newly formed several infantry divisions.

As a newly formed unit, the Sixth Army currently has only three cavalry companies, namely the divisional cavalry companies of the Eighth Infantry Division and the Ninth Infantry Division. In addition, the military headquarters has a cavalry company under its direct jurisdiction.

This number naturally cannot be compared with the old units such as the Fifth Army and the Second Army, you must know that the Second Army not only has two divisional cavalry companies, but also a second cavalry regiment, and the second cavalry regiment is one of the only three cavalry regiments in the Chinese army at present. Since the time of Yu Shengjun, it has been the main cavalry force, and its combat effectiveness is unquestionable.

However, although there are not many cavalry units under the Sixth Army, there are not only cavalry units of the Sixth Army on this battlefield. The cavalry units of the Second and Seventh Corps had been mostly dispatched and were now roaming the periphery of the battlefield. They will not hesitate to charge when they have the chance.

That is to say, among the cavalry units of the Chinese Army participating in the war today, the Second Cavalry Regiment is the absolute main force. In addition, there were six divisions under cavalry companies, making a total of ten cavalry companies, and the total number of cavalry was close to 1,800.

However, there are a lot of coalition cavalry on the opposite side, in the previous battle, the cavalry on both sides did not engage in many large-scale battles, but in the original Wusong offensive and defensive battle, the cavalry on both sides had a short and final defeat, but the follow-up coalition forces successively reinforced some cavalry.

At present, the cavalry units of the coalition forces include the 1st Guards Dragoon Regiment of the Guards, which has just arrived with reinforcements, which is also commonly known as the King's Dragoon Regiment, as well as the Probi Cavalry Regiment composed of Sikhs, the Finn Cavalry Regiment and the Patan Cavalry Regiment composed of Indians, the Sipahi Cavalry Regiment conscripted from the French North African colonies, and there are still some scattered irregular cavalry units of hundreds of cavalry.

The total cavalry strength of the above-mentioned coalition forces was about 1,600 cavalry.

Among them, the most powerful combat effectiveness is naturally the 1st Dragoon Regiment of the Guards from the British mainland, and then it should be the Arab cavalry of French North Africa and the cavalry of the Sikhs, both of which are one of the top cavalry of contemporary times, and the Arab cavalry of North Africa, needless to say, has always been known for its fierceness.

And the Sikh cavalry is the best cavalry in South Asia!

Although the Indian cavalry is a bit worse, it is also a modern cavalry with formal training.

Historically, the Anglo-French coalition army relied on the cavalry of more than 1,000 people to defeat tens of thousands of Manchurian and Mongolian cavalry, crushing the last trace of pride of the traditional Oriental cavalry, since the Battle of Bali Bridge, China's cavalry is to completely abandon the traditional model, and then learn from the modern cavalry of the West, until the era of the Beiyang New Army only slightly recovered, organized into the division of the six towns of Beiyang cavalry standard, the total number of cavalry is about 7,000 people, but unfortunately it was also short-lived, and soon it was wiped out in the melee in the early Republic of China.

Today, the total number of cavalry on both sides is about the same, with the coalition army having 1,600 cavalry and the Chinese army having 1,800 cavalry.

However, there are some differences between the cavalry of the two sides, for example, the Chinese army is basically a light cavalry with strong Chinese army characteristics, equipped with mini rifles or breech-loading rifles, and then equipped with imitation of French hussars, but subsequent improvements, reducing the curvature of the cavalry knife, forming an 1856-style cavalry knife that is very similar to the later riding knife, and then equipped with a cavalry left 'wheeler'.

However, most of these rifles were ornamental, and the Chinese cavalry directly drew their swords and charged in most battles. There has never been a single example of large-scale use of rifles.

The cavalry of the Chinese army is not easy to plan according to the classification of modern cavalry, because he does not belong to the dragoons. Not counting hussars, not even pistols. If the cavalry of the Chinese army, which has mixed too many things, has to be classified, it can only be called in general terms: light cavalry!

The 1st Cavalry Regiment of the Guards Army in the opposite coalition army is a very standard dragoon, well, the dragoons in the British army are not horse infantry, but a kind of heavy cavalry, which is the main force of the spear to attack the enemy formation. The cavalry regiment has been a great part of its centuries-old conquest history, and can be seen in almost any large-scale war in Britain, although its number is only a few hundred. But the combat power is very strong.

Then the Probi cavalry regiment of the Sikhs, as well as the Indian cavalry and the North African cavalry, were irregular cavalry, using long-haired or scimitars, but all of them had been systematically trained in modern cavalry.

If we only compare from the written data, then the cavalry of the Chinese army is actually inferior, the quality of horses on both sides is very different, and there is also a certain gap in the training of both sides.

However, the cavalry of the Chinese army is not without advantages, and this advantage is that although the cavalry of the Chinese army does not use long weapons such as spears and spears to charge, they do not have protective means such as cuirasses. But history has ruthlessly proved that the combat effectiveness of using sabers to launch a charge far exceeds that of other weapons, not to mention the large-scale use of cavalry revolvers by the cavalry of the Chinese army, once they fall into a melee. The six rounds in the cavalry pistols of the Chinese army were enough to give them a huge tactical advantage in the melee.

And this situation has been proven in the previous battle of Wusong.

In the cavalry battle between the two sides in June, which had more than 1,000 troops, the Chinese cavalry suffered heavy losses in the initial contact stage of the two sides' hedge, but after falling into the melee, they connected the allied cavalry to kill and injure the cavalry. In the end, a lose-lose situation was formed.

Therefore, how the victory or defeat of the cavalry between the two sides. It's hard to judge yet!

Now the cavalry of both sides was already active as the vanguard, and neither side sent a large cavalry force. Instead, they sent dozens or more than 100 cavalry as the standard, and then ran back and forth in the intersection of the two sides of the battlefield, on the one hand, trying to get closer to the enemy's infantry phalanx to get more intelligence information, and on the other hand, intercepting the enemy's reconnaissance of their own side through small-scale cavalry engagements.

This also caused the cavalry units of both sides to engage in scattered but very frequent battles before the main forces of the two sides engaged in large-scale battles, and both sides basically touched and left, not giving the enemy a chance to summon friendly cavalry reinforcements.

And this kind of scattered cavalry engagement may not seem like a single battle, but if you put it on the whole battlefield, you will find that there are cavalry on both sides chasing and fighting in the outer corners of the battlefield almost all the time.

More than 3,000 cavalry on both sides gathered in this small area, and those who don't know think that the cavalry of both sides has gathered for a large-scale decisive battle.

The reason why there is this illusion is because the battlefield on this side of Shanghai is still relatively narrow, from Wusong Fort to Luodian, the straight-line distance is only about ten kilometers, but in this narrow area, it is a collection of more than three armies of the Chinese army, a total of about 50,000 royal army troops. After reinforcements, the Anglo-French forces on the opposite side have already exceeded 20,000 people, and if their navy sends sailors ashore, then it is possible to exceed 25,000 people.

During World War II, an infantry division could defend more than 10 kilometers, and a large-scale battle of 780,000 men on both sides would affect the width of the battlefield to 56 kilometers, at least.

However, in this era, the troops of 70,000 or 80,000 troops on both sides were crowded into this small area that was only ten kilometers long and five kilometers wide.

The main forces are all crowded together, and this cavalry unit is naturally no exception!

As the cavalry of both sides engaged in a continuous, attritional contact battle, the main force of the coalition army also slowly moved north, not in the direction of the Wusong Fort there, but in the direction of the Sixth Army in the direction of Luodian in the north.

Looking at the British and French troops coming towards his position thousands of meters away, Shi Qingxuan squinted his eyes slightly, it seems that the enemy army has at least thirteen or four thousand people, plus the seven or eight thousand people left in the south, it is estimated that the coalition army is the navy and navy sailors are pouring out together.

In the face of a strong enemy, even if Shi Qingxuan was full of confidence, he couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive, this was the first time the Sixth Army went to the battlefield, not only the soldiers were recruits, but even the weapons and tactics were brand new.

From top to bottom, from the inside to the inside, will the new Sixth Army be able to hold off the main forces of the incoming Anglo-French forces? (To be continued......)