Twenty miles north of Chuzhou, Duan Qirui's face was black!

"This Gu Lanyu is really ruthless, he can even catch up with him at a distance of more than ten kilometers!" Duan Qirui was a little depressed now, he didn't expect that he had escaped with his life, this Gu Lanyu would still be able to catch up, you must know that when Dingyuan, the distance between the third and fourth divisions was still more than ten kilometers.

Don't look at this mere more than ten kilometers, you don't need a day of marching time, but the key is that the third division is chasing after you, and his fourth division of Duan Qirui is also running in front, and it is not easy to shorten this seemingly short distance.

And now that Gu Lanyu's third division has been able to catch up, then there is only one explanation, that is, Gu Lanyu disregarded the body of the soldiers and forcibly marched day and night.

After all, the Third Division and the Fourth Division were actually marching lightly, the Third Division threw away the baggage and artillery units, and the Fourth Division also threw away a large number of baggage, although it also carried artillery, but the road was smooth, and the horses that dragged the artillery did not stop at all, just this way fled hundreds of kilometers south, and the horses pulling the artillery were at least a few hundred tired, and in the end, the Fourth Division even had to concentrate those other logistics horses in the artillery regiment to tow the artillery.

Therefore, when the Fourth Division retreated from Fengyang, the speed of the march was not slow, and the speed of the march in one day was more than thirty kilometers. This speed is already the limit for a mule-like infantry unit.

Even if Gu Lanyu's third division in the back threw away the baggage and artillery troops, the marching speed of a day was at most more than 30 kilometers, but he could catch up as long as this speed was bound to be impossible, and the only solution was to increase the marching time and adopt the method of day and night marching.

It's just that in this way, after the soldiers in the army rest every day and there is a shortage of soldiers, it will cause the soldiers' bodies to decline, which in turn will cause the combat effectiveness to decline.

Gu Lanyu did this, chasing after him, but it was a great harm to the troops, so Duan Qirui said that Gu Lanyu was ruthless enough, and this ruthlessness meant that he was ruthless enough to his troops!

"Hmph, even if they catch up, but it's just the end of the crossbow, not only the soldiers' bodies are consumed, but they must also be unable to carry too much ammunition and food and other supplies, if they dare to take the initiative to come up, we can give them a counterattack, so we can also delay more preparation time for the Chuzhou side!" Zhang Yongcheng also used binoculars to look at the soldiers in the distance wearing blue-gray military uniforms.

Although they drove several kilometers apart, they could vaguely see their long queue in the telescope!

Duan Qirui also nodded slightly after hearing this, now it is less than ten miles away from Chuzhou, and the first brigade of the Liangjiang Army in Chuzhou has arrived in advance and began to build fortifications to prepare for the fourth division, in this case, the crisis of the fourth division has actually been half resolved.

After slightly estimating the shape of the two sides, Duan Qirui felt that it was possible to give Gu Lanyu, who was adventurously pursuing, a counterattack!

He immediately said: "Let the artillery regiment continue to hurry, and strive to arrive in Chuzhou this evening and then prepare to open its position." Supplementary brigades also went with artillery regiments. The remaining Seventh Brigade and Eighth Brigade stayed, but I want to see if this Gu Lanyu is really as good at fighting as those people say! ”

After Gu Lanyu started the Tongzhou Battle last year, he began to be famous within the Feng Army, and he was the most popular among the many division commanders and brigade commanders within the Feng Army.

As the opponent of the Feng army, the Anhui army will naturally focus on spying on the intelligence of the senior generals of the Feng army, so Duan Qirui is not a stranger to this Gu Lanyu, and naturally knows that Gu Lanyu is a fierce general under Zhao Dongyun.

But then again, the Fourth Division led by Duan Qirui actually fought with the Third Division on a small scale a few times, and it was also engaged in a small scale when he was in Bengbu, but due to the small scale, and Gu Lanyu was cautious not to launch a large-scale attack due to the small number of troops at that time, Duan Qirui actually never understood the roundabout offensive tactics that Gu Lanyu relied on to become famous.

And now, he wants to see if this Gu Lanyu is as good at roundabout offensive battles as rumored!

Duan Qirui tried to fight a counterattack battle of the Third Division, on the one hand, he wanted to kill the spirit of the Feng army and see if he could pick up the cheap, on the other hand, it was also because the fortifications in Chuzhou were not very perfect, and the 1st Mixed Brigade of Liangjiang only arrived one day earlier than the 4th Division, so there was not enough time to build a complete fortification, and the artillery unit also needed time to deploy, although it would not take long, but it would take at least a day.

Moreover, because Chuzhou is behind him, even if he has the strength to fight back, he will directly retreat to Chuzhou and then make plans!

Duan Qirui, who was not in danger behind him, made up his mind, and successively ordered the troops to open the battle line, preparing to give the third division a head-on attack.

However, Duan Qirui's move made Gu Lanyu not surprised, he chased all the way to the death, seeing that the enemy army on the opposite side was about to enter Chuzhou City, he still felt a big headache, if the fourth division escaped into Chuzhou, and there was also reinforcements from the first mixed brigade of Liangjiang, it would not be something that he could overcome without artillery troops.

Now the Fourth Division did not enter Chuzhou, but planned to have a field battle with him outside the city, which was exactly what he wanted!

Hmph, playing field battles, he Gu Lanyu has not been afraid of anyone, even if there is no artillery support from the artillery regiment, he Gu Lanyu is still confident that he can defeat any enemy in the field.

As the orders of the commanders of both sides were issued one after another, just ten miles outside the city of Chuzhou, the third and fourth divisions once again faced each other, and unlike the original confrontation in Bengbu, both sides were more restrained at that time, but this time, whether it was the third division or the fourth division, they acted quickly.

When Gu Lanyu ordered the Fifth Brigade to attack the front line of the Fourth Division, Duan Qirui had already ordered Tang Tianxi's Seventh Brigade to attack the left flank of the Third Division.

Unfortunately, the left flank of the 3rd Division is the 6th Brigade!

The Sixth Brigade, this unit is Gu Lanyu's starting unit, Gu Lanyu has served in the Sixth Brigade for many years, and led or ordered the unit to launch roundabout offensive operations many times in last year's Tongzhou Campaign and Bazhou Campaign.

If Gu Lanyu is good at roundabout attacks, but this Sixth Brigade is the roundabout attack force under his command!

However, when the 6th Brigade launched a roundabout attack towards the flank of the 4th Division, it ran into Tang Tianxi's 7th Brigade, which also wanted to attack in a roundabout way.

As a result, these two troops, which were supposed to be separate detours, directly faced each other!

In an instant, the frontal battlefield of the 3rd and 4th Divisions was still directly playing armed reconnaissance, and when the firepower was tested, an extremely tragic offensive battle had already broken out between the 6th Brigade and the 7th Brigade!

That's right, it's an attack!

These two forces were originally engaged in a roundabout movement, and although they launched a local defense after encountering the enemy in the movement, both sides had great confidence in themselves, plus any of them broke through the enemy's flank, and then outflanked the enemy's frontal troops in a roundabout way, so that Tang Tianxi and Pei Lianying both focused on breaking through the opposing defense line, rather than defending.

For a moment, these two pure infantry units were like those cold-armed cavalry, charging at each other!

Pei Lianying looked at the Anhui army who took the initiative to charge towards his own troops in the small slope opposite, and couldn't believe his eyes.

Over the years, the 6th Brigade has experienced a lot of battles, but it has never been the only part of their 6th Brigade attacking the enemy, and they have not yet encountered a time when the enemy has taken the initiative to charge against them.

Because the previous war experience of the Sixth Brigade was often a roundabout attack and a roundabout attack, and the enemy they faced was whether it was Wang Shizhen's Sixth Division in the Tongzhou Battle last year, or the First Division and the First Mixed Brigade of the Direct Army in the Battle of Entering the Pass, or Wang Zhanyuan's Seventh Division, Zhang Huaizhi's Fifth Division and the Lu Army in the Battle of Jinan, Shandong, and even the Fourth Division led by Duan Qirui when they fought with the Anhui Army, the First Division and the Second Division of the Liangjiang Army, they faced the strong attack of the Feng Army. It has always been a defensive battle to hide in strong fortifications.

So far, although the 5th Brigade of the 3rd Division fought a defensive battle in Bazhou against Wang Zhanyuan's 7th Division, the 6th Brigade has never defended from beginning to end, and they have been attacking all the time!

Seeing this, Pei Lianying had to admire Duan Qirui and Tang Tianxi, the commander of the Seventh Brigade opposite, if they hid behind the fortifications to defend, Pei Lianying would have to spend more effort to take it, but since he took the initiative to play field battles with this, and it was still an attack, in Pei Lianying's opinion, it was simply tired and crooked.

"Hmph, I want to see what kind of confidence this Tang Tianxi has to dare to attack our Sixth Brigade!" Pei Lianying suppressed the excitement in her heart, picked up the telescope again and observed the occupation, and then made slight adjustments to the battlefield.

"They don't have artillery in their hands either, let the mortars of the 11th Regiment be deployed close to them, hum, let them delay the mortars!" Pei Lianying looked at the Anhui army rushing over the mountains, although he was full of confidence and a little arrogant in his heart, but he did not directly order the troops to directly launch a counter-charge like those reckless men.

Since the Seventh Brigade on the opposite side took the initiative to rush up, let them taste the 'mortar' of the army's big killer weapon first.

Although the 3rd Division was a lightly armed and rapid march, and there was no way to bring the artillery regiments and baggage regiments with them, the infantry regiments carried 80 and 60 mm mortars and light and heavy machine guns.

Although the mortars and heavy machine guns of the infantry regiments are not light, the total weight of the 80-millimeter mortars is not more than 100 kilograms, and they are still divided into three major pieces and marched by war horses, and even the infantry can be carried directly in an emergency.

Although the heavy machine gun is not light, it is only tens of kilograms, whether it is carried by horses or carried by direct soldiers, it is not a big problem, and the heavy machine guns equipped with the third division of the Feng Army were imported from Germany in the early days, and some of the machine gun mounts are Russian-style heavy machine gun shields, which are Russian-style heavy machine gun shields, which can be directly dragged by horses.

As for sixty-mm mortars and light machine guns, then they were even lighter, basically the gunners and machine gunners of mortars carried them with themselves.

Of course, under the light and rapid march, although these lighter support weapons can also be carried, but the ammunition carried by the army is much less, especially the mortar 'shells', this thing is not light, an ordinary mortar group can not bring much at all, and the Feng army has special baggage troops to carry more shells during ordinary operations, and the war is issued to the troops, and now, naturally, there is no such reserve ammunition to replenish, and there will be no more after the fight.

As the mortars of the Feng army opened fire one after another, the Anhui army instantly set off a lot of explosion smoke and dust on the way to charge, and then the light and heavy machine guns of the Feng army also opened fire in unison.

Although the Sixth Brigade had not played large-scale defensive warfare, and compared to their excellent roundabout offensive tactics, defensive warfare was indeed average, but in the Feng army and even the domestic warlord troops, the level was also considered superior, at least not worse than other troops of the Feng army.

This was the first time to play defensive warfare, although it was a little shrunken at the beginning, and several small hills were lost, but it finally blocked the first large-scale attack of Tang Tianxi's Seventh Brigade.

When Tang Tianxi's Seventh Brigade launched an attack, a battalion of the Sixth Brigade had already begun to detour, preparing to give the Seventh Brigade a roundabout attack.

For a time, the battlefields of the 3rd and 4th Divisions, especially the 6th and 7th Brigades, were full of explosions and gunfire on the fronts.