Outside Changqing County.

On a moonless night, you can barely see your fingers, but in this dark earth, fire dragons appeared, and the fire dragons moved slowly on the dark earth.

If you look closer, you can see countless soldiers of the Chinese Army holding torches and heading in the northwest direction!

After hesitation, Song Xiangtang finally made the decision to pursue!

And just to the northwest of the First Division, that is, near the river, a thicker fire dragon was also slowly moving in the direction of Jinan, and there was no doubt that this was the Qing army led by Du Xing'a.

The Chinese army and the Qing army were one after the other, and the two gathered at the end of the two for less than two kilometers!

is different from the night march in film and television dramas, whether it is the Qing army that took the initiative to retreat or the pursuing Chinese army, they did not advance in the dark, but marched with a large number of torches, and the dense torches almost illuminated the marching road as if it were day.

At the front of the first division, a major on a horse looked at the Qing army that was not far ahead, and his heart was also slightly anxious, although the distance between the two sides was only less than two thousand meters, but both sides were advancing at the same time, which was very difficult to shorten the distance if it continued at a normal marching speed.

Thinking of this, the major gritted his teeth and said: "Order, the whole battalion trots forward, and then notify the division cavalry company, let them advance and expand the scope of reconnaissance!" ”

If you chase at trot speed, even if the speed will increase, the physical exertion on the soldiers will be very large, because they have to run far more than two kilometers, and if both sides are moving in the same direction at the same time, they will even have to run five kilometers or more to catch up with each other.

And on the way, it is also possible to be attacked by the enemy's broken rear troops, especially in this dark night situation, it is very easy to fall into the ambush of the enemy's broken rear troops, so even if he has to run and pursue. But it also needs the cavalry to provide more and more timely information from the cavalry who are scouting in the front, so that the troops do not fall into the trap.

It is a pity that after the Qing army in front saw that the speed of the pursuit of the Chinese army in the rear had increased significantly, they also accelerated their speed, which made the forward soldiers of the Chinese army behind them depressed.

This chase and escape. And so the long night passed!

At dawn the next day, Song Xiangtang, who had not slept all night, looked at the Qing army in front with a pair of bloodshot eyes, and the Qing army in front of him in the telescope was still only more than a thousand meters away from his own front troops, which seemed to be very close, but the first division of the Chinese Army spent a whole night and failed to shorten this distance.

After all, the Qing army in front is not stupid, it is impossible to say that the Chinese army in the back still stops when it catches up, it is often the Chinese army trotting that they also trot, and the Chinese army's normal walking They also slow down and walk normally, basically maintaining the distance between the two sides.

The night of pursuit and escape on both sides was exhausting for the soldiers on both sides. Although the march at night was lit by torches, it was still impossible to be as convenient as during the day, and the distance between the two sides was more than ten kilometers in total.

However, it is these more than ten kilometers that have already allowed the Qing army in front to see the head of Jinan City!

"It can't be delayed any longer, if it drags on any longer, they will all have to enter the city!" Song Xiangtang looked at Jinan City, which seemed to loom in the distance, and was a little anxious.

"Pass the order, let the whole army march lightly and quickly, be sure to catch up and entangle them!"

Now that the sky is already bright. Then there is no need to worry about being ambushed by the enemy army on the way to pursue because of the poor dark vision, so Song Xiangtang intends to make a final effort. Strive to allow the soldiers to exert the little physical strength they have saved for the final pursuit.

If he can catch up, even if he can't entangle the enemy's main force, but even if he can't entangle their broken rear forces and stay, it will be even better, if Du Xing'a is not willing to give up these broken rear forces and let the main force stop to fight.

Last night he had received news from the Sixth Army that they had successfully crossed the Yellow River. According to the speed of the Sixth Army, it is expected that they will be able to reach Changqing at noon this year, and by the evening this evening, the forward troops of the Sixth Army will be able to catch up with them and even reach the outside of Jinan.

As long as you can entangle the enemy and wait for the arrival of the Sixth Army, then a big victory is no suspense.

If your own troops can't catch up with the enemy forces in front. Then Song Xiangtang is also powerless, and at the same time, he can also give Shi Qingxuan and even His Majesty an explanation: that is, he has done his best!

In the morning, the whole division of the 1st Division pursued lightly, and even the officers and men did not even have time to eat breakfast, but ate the dry food in their hands while marching.

Facing the final pursuit of the 1st Division, Du Xing'a looked at his subordinates, who were already exhausted and exhausted, and he knew that after a night's march, his troops were even more exhausted than the enemy forces behind.

This is the difference in the physical fitness of the soldiers on both sides, and it has nothing to do with tactics!

The food conditions of the Chinese army are the best among all the domestic armies, and a good food supply can provide better nutrition for the soldiers, so that the soldiers can carry out higher intensity physical training, so that the soldiers can maintain better physical fitness.

The soldiers of the 9th Auxiliary Defense Division were already behind in the middle of the night, but the soldiers of the 1st Division have persisted until now, although everyone can see the tiredness, but they can still hold on one by one.

On the other hand, on the side of the Qing army, the soldiers of the new army in the three towns were better, while some of the soldiers of the green battalion were already tired, and there were nearly 1,000 people who could not walk along the way.

Most of the remaining people who did not fall behind were also in poor condition, and many of them were forced to continue the march because they knew that once they fell behind, they would be caught up by the Chinese army.

At present, the troops under the command of Duxing A are not far from Jinan City, and they are not close to Jinan City, and the forward troops closest to Jinan City are only four or five kilometers away from the city gate of Jinan City, but the marching team is relatively long, and the final head is seven or eight kilometers away from Jinan.

And in the case that the Chinese army is now pursuing with all its might, if it does not send troops to intercept it. It is quite possible that the second half of the troops will be caught up and entangled.

Can't go on like this, Du Xing'a knows that it's time for him to break his tail and survive!

Therefore, he ordered a target of the third town and more than 3,000 and nearly 4,000 green battalions in the rear to stay behind as a broken rear force to cover the troops in front of Jinan and enter the city.

The reason why he let his descendant Third Town send a standard to act as a broken rear force is because Du Xing'a knows that in this case, the broken back army is not only used for sacrifice, but also needs the broken back army to have the determination to fight to the death. And looking at the whole army, only the third town that he personally trained has this ability.

If it were other troops, they would definitely not carry out this order, which was obviously to send them to death.

"As long as you can drag on for an hour, then it is very sufficient, and when the time is up, you can retreat on your own!" Du Xing'a personally instructed his officers.

The commander of the infantry target said with a resolute face: "It is incumbent on my brothers in the ninth standard to buy time for the army, but those green battalions and regimental training may not be easily left behind!" ”

Hearing this, Duxing Aleng snorted: "It's not easy, you guys are supervising the battle in the back, if there are those who dare to evacuate without permission." Kill on the spot! ”

If the generals of the old army in the green battalion and regimental training heard Du Xing'a's words, it is estimated that they had the intention of killing Du Xing'a.

In the battle of Changqing two days ago, Du Xing'a did not regard those green battalions and regimental training as friendly troops at all, but regarded them as veritable cannon fodder, and let them rush to the forefront to block bullets for the new army under his command every time they fought, and once there were green battalions and regimental training retreating without authorization, they would be very harsh to shoot the deserters on a large scale.

Yesterday, a local regimental training reinforced by Zhili even caused a mutiny. I didn't want to be cannon fodder to die, but unfortunately the result was not very good. The soldiers and generals who made trouble were directly beheaded by Du Xing'a.

As a result, the three towns in the Qing army have suffered no losses so far, but the old troops such as the green battalion and regimental training have suffered heavy casualties, and in less than three days, the cumulative casualties and missing green battalions and regimental training have been as high as more than 10,000 people.

Just when the third town of the Qing army was holding more than 3,000 green battalions and regimental training soldiers out of the brigade, and then set up a defensive formation on the spot, Song Xiangtang behind showed a smile.

This finally forced the Qing army to leave the broken rear troops. Although it looked like there were only four or five thousand men, it was enough for the first division.

Although Song Xiangtang gave the order for the whole army to pursue lightly, to be honest, he never expected to be able to leave all the Qing troops behind, which was already good if he could force the Qing army to leave behind the three or five thousand troops.

After all, the main force of the Qing army has 50,000 or 60,000 people, although it is chased by 10,000 people from its own family. But to be honest, even if he catches up, he can't leave them all, and it's enough to be able to leave three or five thousand people.

"Rush up and eat them!" Song Xiangtang looked at the thin defense line of the Qing army, as if he saw the Qing soldiers trembling in the autumn wind.

For them, Song Xiangtang didn't even need to make any detailed tactical deployments, just rushed up in line to eat them.

Even before the artillery of the Chinese army was in place, the three infantry battalions under the First Infantry Corps, which acted as the vanguard, formed the most standard three-platoon horizontal formation and rushed forward.

Then, about 300 meters close to the enemy, the first volley was fired!

This is a pure field battle, neither side has any field fortifications to protect, and can only fight in the simplest and most brutal way.

The soldiers on both sides formed one standard formation after another, and then engaged in a life-and-death duel through the mode of platoon of guns and fire.

The only difference is that the Chinese army's troops are fighting more and more, at first there was only the first corps, but soon the second infantry regiment in the rear was also reinforced, and after the second infantry regiment also joined the battlefield, the Qing army in front of the broken back can still hold on.

First of all, the more than 3,000 green battalions and regimental training were the first to collapse without accident, they threw down the arquebuses, swords and other cold weapons in their hands, and then turned around and ran.

The officers of the ninth standard of the third town of the Qing army who were angry and supervised the battle shouted that they wanted to prevent the escape of the green battalion and the regimental training, but they were now busy fighting against the Chinese army, and they had no time to stop the collapse of the friendly army.

In the end, you can only fight alone, watching your allies collapse and flee!

After losing the human shields of the Green Battalion and the regimental training, the casualties of the ninth standard of the Qing army also increased rapidly, and as the soldiers fell one by one, soon the entire defense line was a hole.

The Qing army officer who led the army saw this scene and sighed deeply, this was originally intended to be able to stop the Chinese army for at least an hour, but where could he have thought that let alone an hour, it would collapse in less than half an hour.

There was no point in fighting any longer, so he decisively gave the order to retreat!

Under the order to retreat, the soldiers of the ninth standard of the Qing army who were still alive quickly turned around and ran, and the Chinese army behind also sounded the horn of the charge in time!

And when the Chinese army defeated the Qing army's broken rear troops, Du Xing'a had already returned to Jinan City.

Ascending the city gate tower and looking at the armies of both sides outside the city, he sighed deeply after a while: "This battle is difficult! (To be continued......)