At the same time as the warning whistle sounded, a burst of gunfire also rang out, indicating that their own alert troops had already fired.

According to the records in the infantry drill code, when the troops are in the marching army, such as sending scouts in advance, they are on alert three miles ahead.

Scouts in regular Class A units are usually cavalry, usually armed with 8x binoculars, high-frequency whistles, walkie-talkies, revolvers, and Sharps short-barreled carbines.

And the carved Northern Expeditionary Army unit has been reloaded, so the scouts are better equipped, the most important of which is to be equipped with SVD sniper rifles with 4 times the PSO-1 scope!

Generally speaking, after the scouts find the enemy, they will first transmit the enemy situation to the rear alert troops through the guò walkie-talkie, and the alert troops are the vanguard of the large army, and after they get the news, they will give priority to blowing the high-frequency whistle to remind the large troops in the rear, tell everyone to meet the enemy in front, and let everyone stop advancing, which is the source of the previous high-frequency whistle.

As for the sound of the next snapping shot, you can tell that it is the sound of an SVD sniper rifle, and the distance is relatively far, so there is a chance that it was fired by the scouts.

According to the records in the drill code, if the scout finds that the enemy is a large army, he is not allowed to fire, he must continue to remain hidden, and continue to pass the news to the rear, but if he finds that there are few enemies, and he is confident that he can deal with it, then he can attack on his own, and it is best to catch him alive, which is called scratching the tongue!

Therefore, since the sound of the scout's SVD sniper rifle appears, it means that there are very few enemies, and nine times out of ten they have touched the opposing reconnaissance unit.

Sure enough, soon a staff officer trotted over, saluted Li Yongji, and began to report the situation.

It turned out that the scouts who came out of their way found six more cavalrymen in front.

These six cavalrymen were all dressed as Qing soldiers. At first glance, it was the enemy, and after judging that there were no other enemies in the distance, the scouts also fired together while transmitting the news of the encounter to the rear.

Scouts usually act in groups of sixteen, which means at least one squad of sixteen people. Each of them had a sniper rifle, and sixteen SVD sniper rifles were fired at the same time, and they were in the hidden woods with deliberate or unintentional calculations, so the six cavalrymen were quickly dismounted.

It's a pity. Maybe it was because of the nervousness, or maybe they were not very familiar with the performance of the SVD rifle, so everyone fired more fiercely, firing an average of five rounds per person, and basically hitting people, as a result, the six enemy cavalrymen were all killed, and none of them survived.

After listening to the report, Li Yongji nodded: "Since this is the case, then the whole army will stop advancing." Set up a vigilance formation on the spot, and send a company of scouts to continue to reconnoiter within twenty miles ahead of you to get more accurate information! ”

"Yes! Your Excellency, Chief! The staff officer saluted again. Then he turned around and strode away.

This time, the scout did not disappoint Li Yongji again, and after half an hour, he again got more definite news.

Originally. Ten miles ahead, there was a makeshift camp with a large number of horses. It should all be cavalry, among which there are both those dressed up as Qing soldiers and those dressed as foreigners, and the Qing army should account for more than half!

According to preliminary estimates, the number of cavalry in this group was about 3,000, of which about 1,000 were dressed as foreigners and about 2,000 were in the Qing army.

"Foreigner cavalry?" Li Yongji nodded, "It seems that they are the so-called Russians." ”

Thinking of this, Li Yongji suddenly had an idea, he called that Liu Tianfu over, and then said to him: "Old Liu, you are really powerful, you have attracted the Qing army and foreigners over." ”

"Huh? My lord, this, how good is this. Liu Tianfu seemed to be frightened, and when he heard that he had found a foreigner, he hurriedly said, "Why don't we withdraw quickly, foreigners are incapable of being an enemy." ”

"The other party only has 3,000 people, but I am an army of 40,000, what are you afraid of?" Li Yongji frowned.

"But, but ......" Liu Tianfu was for a long time, and finally held back a sentence, "But the other party is a foreigner!" ”

"What about foreigners? Is it still three heads and six arms? Even if they have three heads and six arms, I will make them all lie down! ”

"This, this ......" Liu Tianfu opened his mouth, and wanted to say something, but seeing Li Yongji's face, he finally didn't say anything.

Seeing him like this, Li Yongji shook his head, knowing that he couldn't count on it.

Originally, Li Yongji wanted them to be bait, first swaggering to show their faces in front of those mixed troops of the Qing army and foreigners, and then they would flee in panic, seeing this situation, the other party naturally wanted to pursue.

At this time, when the other party is chasing Zhenghuan, the troops who have been ambushed in advance will open fire, catch the opponent by surprise in one fell swoop, and strive to completely annihilate this cavalry force.

However, this requires the troops who are used as bait to have enough courage, and now it seems that this Liu Tianfu obviously can't be counted on, and then push it, and his subordinates are estimated to be useless.

After letting people take Liu Tianfu down, Li Yongji looked at his back and suddenly patted his head: "Yes, these people are useless, but they don't mean that my people can't do it either?" It's just a face from afar, and you don't have to look closely, just put on their clothes! ”

In this way, Li Yongji picked out a group of people with faster legs and feet, more flexible brains, and bold enough, and then asked them to put on the tattered clothes of those who were contained in the Twist Army, and rolled on the ground a few times, making a dirty face.

I communicated with the reconnaissance troops again, and I heard from them that those cavalry were still camping and had not yet moved, Li Yongji knew that time was running out, and he had to wait for the other party to find out that something was wrong.

Because of the urgency of time, I didn't have time to dig too many traps, but I just let the two regiments ambush on both sides of the official road, and placed a large number of tripping horses, and then let the more than 1,000 soldiers of the elite army wearing twisted army clothes and grizzled faces hold tattered weapons, and deliberately make loud noises in the ambush circle, and gather together in a whimper, as if a group of routed soldiers who had just stopped to rest.

Sure enough, it didn't take long for the scouts to spot the other party's movements. As soon as they found out about the situation, they sent a wave of scout cavalry there.

This time, Li Yongji let go of this group of reconnaissance cavalry, and only when the other party wanted to get closer, he let those soldiers of the Jingwu Army who pretended to be the Twist Army shoot and shoot, but they also deliberately hit crookedly.

Seeing that there were many people on the other side, those reconnaissance cavalry dressed as Qing soldiers did not dare to get too close, but ran back on their horses and reported to the rear.

Soon the other party moved, and began to dispatch all the soldiers and horses to press over. It seems that he wants to annihilate the thousand or so people who pretend to be the Twist Army at once.

When both sides could see each other visually, the soldiers of the Jingwu Army, who pretended to be the Twist Army, shouted, and immediately ran to the predetermined location in the rear, and deliberately spread the distance when they ran, as if they were really panicking.

As soon as these people ran like this, the other party was completely relieved, began to urge the horses, and accelerated to run this way.

At the forefront were the foreign cavalry riding tall horses. They brandished their sabers and shouted loudly, looking very excited, as if they were very obsessed with this act of chasing and fleeing the enemy.

They were followed by the Qing cavalry. They were much better dressed, and they also pulled out their waist knives and screamed, as if they were also boosted by morale.

Also, this is not a hedge between the two armies. Instead, it was to chase and kill the rout, which was the easiest and least dangerous thing to do, and they couldn't help but be unhappy.

This one by one, the routs. It's just a human head, and one by one a human head, it's a piece of merit and silver!

Soon, the two sides got closer and closer, after all, the two legs of a man could not outrun the four legs of a horse, however, just when the cavalry at the head of them was about to approach about 150 meters behind the group of "routs", suddenly there was a burst of people on their backs!

It turned out that it was the tripping rope that was activated, and a large number of horses who could not avoid it were tripped by the tripping rope, and people shouted that the horses were neighing, so it was not miserable.

However, this was not the end, just when their forward was tripped by the tripping horse, and the people behind hurriedly grabbed the horse's head, they put on camouflage nets in advance, and the soldiers who were lying in ambush on both sides of the road suddenly appeared, and then rained bullets with their weapons on the subjects who were ambushed in the middle.

In order to do their best, the soldiers in this ambush used 56 semi-automatic rifles and 56 assault rifles, which means that most of them are elite, and they are calculated or unintentional, so they were stunned at once, and they never had the strength to fight back!

Of course, this is also related to the fact that these cavalrymen have not experienced the baptism of rapid-fire weapons before, and they have little experience in protecting rapid-fire weapons.

You know, in the face of a surprise attack, especially an attack with rapid-fire weapons, the best way is to lie on the ground or find cover, but these people obviously have no experience in this area, so the losses are extraordinarily large.

In just half an hour, the battle was over, and none of the 3,000 cavalry had escaped the net, almost all of them were killed on both sides of the road, and the only survivors were all wounded, and they were all taken prisoner by the elite army.

These captives included Qing soldiers and foreigners, and after some interrogation, these Qing soldiers were all Han Eight Banners stationed in Tianjin, and as for those foreigners, they were indeed Russians, and they were the most ferocious Cossack cavalry among them!

Not to mention the combat effectiveness of the Cossack cavalry, those Han Eight Banners stationed in Tianjin are also quite combative, and many of them have also participated in the previous Dagukou defense battle, and have fought with foreigners, so it can be said that they have rich combat experience.

As for why these people appeared here, it was because they came after Sun Kuixin's Twist Army, of course, in addition, they were also responsible for reconnaissance, and they were to rush to the vicinity of Texas to reconnoiter the enemy's situation, that is, they were actually a vanguard force.

Since it is a vanguard, it means that there are still large troops behind, and since the other party is willing to send so many people to such a distant place, it means that the other party has the intention of taking the initiative to attack, not the idea of passive defense.

After asking carefully, sure enough, their ultimate goal is the Jingwu Army, and the pursuit of the rout is only incidental, they are the vanguard of the attack on the Jingwu Army!

As for why the other party is so confident, it is very simple, because in Cangzhou, in addition to the 3,000 Han and Eight Banners, there are also 4,000 Russian soldiers.

Not to mention the Han Eight Banners, those Russian soldiers not only have cavalry, but also infantry and artillery, it can be said that the structure is quite complete, if you add these 1,000 Cossack cavalry that were exterminated, it is almost all the soldiers and horses of the Russian intervention army stationed in China.

These Russians are arrogant, they have always looked down on the Chinese, they think they have five thousand. There was also the assistance of the Qing army, and it was more than enough to defeat Li Yongji's 50,000 soldiers and horses, so he gave up defending the city and took the initiative to attack.

Of course, these Russians are not proud, they did not think of attacking Jinan City with such a few men and weapons, but wanted to fight a field battle with the elite army. The generals of the other side believed that as long as they met in the field, the brave Russian soldiers would definitely be able to beat Li Yongji's army to a pulp!

It should be said that the Russians, although arrogant. But it is not unreasonable for them to be so bold, because they look at the Jingwu Army according to their previous experience in fighting with the Chinese.

In the northeast, 500 Russian soldiers could suppress more than 10,000 Qing troops, so in their minds, the elite army was stronger than the Qing army. But it won't be much stronger, they have 5,000 soldiers and horses, and they are fully equipped with infantry and artillery, so there is no reason why they can't beat a rabble of 40,000 or 50,000.

Other words. In the eyes of the Russians, if you fight the Chinese, as long as the Russians' troops form a formation, more than 3,000 people. It is not a problem at all to beat the Chinese one to ten.

It was with this kind of thinking that the Russians came to Cangzhou with a swagger, and then did not defend the city. Continue to leave Cangzhou with a swagger and continue to march in the direction where the Jingwu Army is located, the purpose is to fight a decisive battle with the Jingwu Army in the field!

As for the Qing troops who acted together, the Russians did not look down on them at all, and the existence of these people was nothing more than a guide for the Russians, and the other was to share the notoriety of the Russians' plunder.

"Tell me honestly," Li Yongji asked the Qing army general, "where is your army now?" ”

"In, in Zhangjiazhen." The general said hurriedly.

"Zhangjiatun?" Li Yongji frowned, "How far is it from here?" ”

"Zhangjiatun is only about thirty miles away from here." The general continued, "We had just set up camp there, and then, and then my general sent us to reconnoiter the terrain with the Russians. ”

"Thirty miles." Li Yongji nodded, "It doesn't seem to be far away, if the cavalry is concerned, it will indeed arrive in a while." ”

After speaking, Li Yongji waved his hand and asked the general to take the general down, and then began to discuss countermeasures with Zhou Da and the staff officers of the General Staff.

Unlike Li Yongji, the people in the staff department have been studying the maps and strategies and tactics that Li Yongji got all day long, so if nothing else, at least they know more about the surrounding terrain and the situation of the village than Li Yongji.

"Chief, look here!" Zhou Shengjun, the staff officer on duty, held a wooden teaching pole and pointed to a dot in the big map, "If our map is correct, then this should be Zhangjiatun." ”

"Well, and then what?" Li Yongji nodded.

"Based on the information we have obtained." Zhou Shengjun continued to draw a circle on the dot with the teaching pole, "Zhangjiatun is a large plain, there are three rivers nearby, which is very suitable for growing crops, and this place extends in all directions, and there are often merchants who come and go to settle here, so it is a relatively wealthy village nearby." ”

"And is this place easy to fight?" Li Yongji asked.

"It's hard to say." Zhou Shengjun said, "We only know that this is located in the plain, but whether it is good or not, it is difficult to make a judgment without more detailed information." ”

"And what about the opinion of your staff?" Li Yongji continued to ask, "How do you think this battle should be fought?" ”

"Given that the enemy's situation is unknown, I think we should defend here first, and then wait until we find out the truth of the other side." Zhou Shengjun said, "Although in terms of the balance of forces, no matter how we fight, we will definitely win, but the goal of the war is not only to win, but should give full play to our own strength and minimize our own losses, especially in this situation where we are strong and the enemy is weak, we must be more cautious and try to reduce our casualties." ”

"Yes, good learning." Li Yongji nodded with satisfaction.

"So, based on the information we've gotten so far, I think it's best not to take the initiative to attack, but to set up an ambush first and then lure the enemy to attack." Zhou Shengjun said, "Since they don't know much about our situation, they think that we are still at the level of ordinary Qing troops, and they don't take us seriously, and they want to go out of the city to fight with us in the field, then we simply follow their wishes and have a field decisive battle with them."

However, even if it is a decisive battle, it is necessary to use the minimum loss to obtain the maximum result, so it is best to start the battle at the place we choose and at the time we choose, and to achieve these two points, we can only rely on the tactics of ambush and lure the enemy, that is, we set up positions in advance to lure the opponent to attack.

Therefore, I set up a sniper position in the area of Xiaofengpo here, and then sent some cavalry as bait, and when we arrived at the place, we took out a long pole and carried the heads of the enemy, especially those of the Russians, on it, and then showed off our might and provoked them so that they had to chase after us.

At this point, the decoy troops will rush back, and then we can snipe at them in the preset position, and by then, they will be exhausted, and we can annihilate them all with our superior firepower! ”

"Preset positions and lure the enemy to attack, but the tactics are not complicated." Li Yongji nodded and said, "Okay, let's follow this set first, let's teach these Russian intervention troops a lesson here in Xiaofengpo you said!" (To be continued......)