The steam train, which had a speed of less than twenty kilometers per hour, finally sent Yang Qiu to the foot of Wusheng Pass in six hours, and the breath of war that had just gotten off made Ke Shao, Yu Dehai and others who met on the road nervous.

Hundreds of wounded soldiers who had been evacuated from Wusheng Pass gathered here, and a few medical soldiers bandaged them while preparing to return to Hanyang, and the hired master took advantage of the truce to move the corpses of the soldiers here, and the young faces with closed eyes and the corpses with their limbs blown off and scorched black made the soldiers of the three battalions who rushed from Jingshan all grit their teeth.

On the stretcher, a soldier whose thigh was torn open by shrapnel kept wailing, the sound made everyone more nervous, and the medical recruits next to him were probably frightened by the blood, and his movements were slow and clumsy, after seeing this, Yang Qiu immediately walked over, took ** and hemostatic medicine and quickly scraped off the adhesive near the wound, and after stopping the bleeding, he personally sutured the wound, and his skillful handling made several medical soldiers stunned, and the wound was re-stitched in just a few minutes ().

"Don't be nervous! The more nervous and protracted it is, the greater the suffering of the soldiers! Yang Qiu patted the young medical recruits, and walked towards Wusheng Pass under the grateful gaze of the wounded soldiers, and when he was about to reach the pass, the dull sound of explosions sounded from everywhere again, and the yellow smoke in the morning light quickly reminded him of the dangerous underground gunpowder, and immediately ordered to cover his mouth and nose with a towel dipped in water and move forward.

When we arrived at Wusheng Pass, we were faced with a hellish picture, the huge pass was no longer in sight of the intact city walls, there was rubble blown by cannonballs everywhere, and uncleaned limbs and dried blood stains abounded on the ground.

Beiyang used a typical German firepower advance tactic, with two artillery battalions fighting at angles to cover the three passes without pausing, while the infantry took advantage of the gap between artillery fire to prepare for breakfast. After yesterday's confrontation, some of the soldiers stationed here are accustomed to artillery tactics, and their respective positions for finding cover are also very open, while the reserves are hiding at the base of the wall or in places where artillery shells can't reach them, ready to meet the challenge of the Beiyang infantry at any time.

The command post is located in the dead corner of the mountain wall on the right side of the city, and this is also the place with the most reserves, and the soldiers of the reserve who are preparing see the commander of the right army who is in a lot of noise personally bring troops to support, and they immediately cheer, and the soldiers of the regiment salute in unison.

When he walked to the door, He Xi had already led Shi Xiaolou and other officers to rush out, Yang Qiu almost couldn't recognize him who had been stationed here for nearly half a month, the head of the regiment, who was nicknamed the Smiling Bodhisattva by everyone, had obviously lost a circle, a layer of short hair had grown on his bald head, his face was full of scum, his clothes were wrinkled and dirty, and his whole body was soaked in gunsmoke.

He Xi was both surprised and happy when he saw Yang Qiu: "Commander, why are you here?" ”

"You are all my soldiers, and I will naturally come to support you if you are in danger." The faint words made the officers warm their hearts, and even Wu Zhaolin and the officers of the First Association on the left side sniffed, but they didn't expect that the first support soldier was actually Yang Qiu, who had been criticized by everyone for trying to split the **, Shi Xiaolou took a step forward and saluted: "Shi Xiaolou of the fourth battalion has seen the commander (). ”

"Shi Xiaolou, graduated from the Martial Arts Academy, and later studied at the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School to learn command." Yang Qiu smiled slightly and stretched out his hand: "Thank you for faithfully executing the order, ensuring that Wusheng Pass has not been lost so far, and giving us sufficient time to prepare!" It was you who saved tens of millions of Hubei people! The Right Army needs officers like you, welcome to join. ”

In just a few words, an outstanding young officer was included in the system of the Right Route Army, which made Wu Zhaolin also admire his methods. After greeting everyone, Yang Qiu immediately entered the headquarters, and because it was too cramped inside, he simply removed the table and sat on the ground.

"Xiaolou, you can introduce me." As soon as Yang Qiu opened his mouth, he named Shi Xiaolou, obviously considering his ability.

Shi Xiaolou began to introduce yesterday's battle situation very neatly: "The artillery battle began in the afternoon, and according to the reconnaissance of the outpost and the calculation of the density of the shells, two artillery battalions should have been invested. After half an hour of artillery bombardment, they launched an infantry attack, and invested about two targets to attack the three passes at the same time, and the regiment commander and Wu Xietong had guessed that Beiyang might shell Wushengguan and respond to it, covering the infantry to take the Jiuli Pass and Pingjing Pass on both sides and then flank the attack, so they deployed two battalions and a Makqin machine gun on both sides respectively, so that Beiyang did not succeed.

They threw all their firepower on our side before they took the flanks, and the main attack began after dinner, and six guns were dispatched to cooperate, and they did not retreat until last night. After counting this morning, we learned that a total of more than 600 Beiyang soldiers were killed, more than 700 were killed and 300 were wounded, most of them were "Shi Xiaolou glanced at Wu Zhaolin when he said this, and continued: "The recruits on our side and Wu Xietong's side are inexperienced, and most of them will run away after being frightened by the shells. ”

"The loss of ordnance is relatively serious, only three of the eight mountain guns are still usable, and two heavy machine guns have been damaged. The machine gun is not skilled enough, and the bullet consumption is relatively large. Shi Xiaolou had a clear mind, and in just a few words, he outlined the general battle history, which made Yang Qiugao take a look and asked, "What do you think is the biggest problem now?" ”

"As long as the city pass is not broken, the railway behind can send military supplies and bullets, so it is not a problem to consume a lot, and now the biggest threat is Beiyang artillery ()! Wusheng Pass is a mountainous area, and the terrain in the city is narrow and not suitable for artillery movement, and the gap between the artillery shells we use and Beiyang is too large. Shi Xiaolou held a Japanese cannonball that had not exploded and had its fuse removed and placed it in the middle: "I saw this kind of cannonball when I was studying in Japan, it was produced in Nagoya Arsenal, and it was filled with a new fire poison, which was much more powerful than Hanyang's construction, and after the cannonball was smashed, it would emit poisonous yellow smoke, and the flame was not easy to extinguish, and half of the brothers who died yesterday were burned alive." ”

"It's Shimose Fire Pill." Yang Qiu looked at the cannonballs, put them down and said, "I have asked Hanyang to produce a new fire potion, which should be more powerful than this, but it will be five days before the first batch of cannonballs can be obtained at the earliest." ”

Wu Zhaolin was slightly stunned when he heard this, but he didn't expect Yang Qiu to know how to make explosive medicine, and he could make something more powerful than Japanese fire medicine. Shi Xiaolou didn't have so many ideas, and he was very happy to learn that he was going to have a new fire pill here, even if it was not as strong as Japan's, but as long as it was guaranteed to be comparable, he immediately said: "It doesn't matter if you get it in five days, it doesn't have much effect to pull up the five lives and seven guns now, and the seven lives and five guns are too heavy to move, and they are not as practical as the machine guns." ”

"Lao He, afraid of three." After Shi Xiaolou finished speaking, Yang Qiu immediately turned to He Xi, since he stayed on the night of the first righteousness, he has not called He Xi by Lao He, which makes people feel a lot more affectionate: "You are old officers, there are no outsiders here, I want to ask you how many days do you think you can still guard?" ”

"The artillery in Beiyang is too powerful, if there are no reinforcements, I think it will be the most." He Xi glanced at Wu Zhaolin and raised two fingers.

He Xi originally thought that Yang Qiu would be dissatisfied with this number, because he promised to defend it for twenty days, but Yang Qiu was not only not dissatisfied but appreciated his honesty, and immediately said to Yu Dehai and Ke Shao, who lowered their heads: "Don't take the matter of Jingshan to heart, the order is from me and it has nothing to do with you, as a soldier, it is the most important thing to fight well and protect Hubei!" ”

"Jingshan? What happened to Kyosama? Wu Zhaolin asked.

"It's not a big deal." Yang Qiu didn't want to mention this matter more, and continued to the two: "Divide the three battalions and direct companies you brought into two detachments, and immediately go to support Jiuli Pass and Pingjing Pass. ”

Seeing that Yang Qiu didn't punish them, the anxiety in the hearts of the two disappeared, and they immediately led the troops to support the two levels, and after they left, the explosion outside suddenly became a lot more dense, and Yang Qiu, who was familiar with tactics, understood that this should be a precursor for the infantry to prepare to attack (). After yesterday's confrontation, Beiyang must have touched the virtual reality, and whether it can support it for a few more days depends on today! So he unceremoniously took over the command, and Wu Zhaolin also knew that today was the most critical, and he cooperated very well in ordering all troops to obey the command.

It was still yesterday's old routine, from seven o'clock after nearly an hour and a half of shelling, Beiyang sent two targets to storm Jiuli Pass and Pingjing Pass, trying to take two passes and attack Wusheng Pass from the flank. However, they didn't know that there was already an extra detachment on each of the two passes, and the fierce machine gun fire pressed them to the hillside and couldn't move, so they had to turn around again and attack Wusheng Pass.

Wusheng Pass is not big, and the enemy's artillery fire is so fierce, too many troops can only suffer at once, probably Yang Qiu personally supervised the battle to boost morale, Ji Fucheng and Shi Xiaolou took the lead in leading the third and fourth battalions to take the lead in the first wave of defensive troops. After climbing the city wall, the Beiyang infantry had already rushed along the slopes on both sides of the railway line, and when they ran to a distance of a kilometer, the formation suddenly dispersed, and the battalion attacking along the railway line below did not rush stupidly like the previous Henan patrol battalion, but divided into two columns and cautiously rushed over against the rammed wall.

Due to Hakan's threat of trading, Yang Qiu also had to suppress his temperament and stop his steps, lying in the bunker to observe the battle situation from the artillery goggles.

As he expected, Beiyang was obviously preparing to take Wusheng Pass with a dead hand today, so about three battalions of troops were gathered in front of him, and there were three more battalions behind them to prepare.

Sharp copper whistles replaced shouting, and after rushing to a distance of about 600 meters, the Beiyang infantry on the hillsides on both sides took the lead in making adjustments, and the troops spread out and formed three skirmish lines. Compared with the skilled infantry, the accompanying tactics of the machine gun team are still too old-fashioned, carrying the Makqin machine gun to the front to gather fire in an attempt to suppress the city tower with fire to cover the infantry, so Yang Qiu immediately pointed to the machine gun position, and the only remaining three Wusheng Qishan guns smashed all the shells.

The booming explosion made the Beiyang machine gun team have to temporarily retreat, but the Beiyang infantry who lost the cover of the machine gun did not stop, and still skillfully used the trees and bunkers on the hillside to stagger forward, their bodies were pressed very low, and after entering the range of the mobile phone gun, they approached with the method of prostrate pushing the gun forward ().

The position of the second company of the third battalion of the hill on the left side is located outside the city, there is no city wall here, so the trench was dug in advance, Hao Wenbao grabbed the handle of Madsen, and nervously watched more than 400 Beiyang soldiers spread out and pounce on this side, and when he was about to pull the trigger, he saw the enemy lying down one after another, so he immediately stopped moving.

As the guards and guns, and the fighters of the battalions, they are all a group of elites trained by Yang Qiu himself, and they have a deeper understanding of the "Tactical Manual of Guns and Guns", so they know very well that the enemy who is lying down at this distance is wasting bullets in vain. The infantry of the third battalion next to him had already opened fire, and the sound of Hanyang making a crackling sound had been drilled into his ears straight into his ears, but he just didn't pull the trigger, which made many soldiers look at him in surprise.

Patiently waiting for the opportunity finally ushered in, and when a copper whistle sounded, this group of Beiyang soldiers stood up suddenly, bent down and rushed upward, Hao Wenbao pulled the trigger almost at the same time, and although the three bursts were not fast, they became the enemy's nightmare, and the soldiers who were constantly rushing were hit and fell to the ground.

The light machine guns that suddenly opened fire were intertwined with a layer of barrage, and soon more than a dozen Beiyang soldiers who rushed to the front swept down, and more enemy soldiers saw that there were light machine guns pressing the formation, and they were so frightened that they climbed down again.

At this time, a Beiyang officer with a red top suddenly straightened up in the bullets flying in the sky, although he couldn't hear what he was shouting, but his appearance of drawing a knife and waving it immediately aroused the fierce strength of the Beiyang infantry, more than 100 Beiyang soldiers rushed to the position with a shout, and even the machine gun team that had just retreated also found cover again to cooperate with the infantry to charge.

The power of the heavy machine gun gradually burst out, and the trench in front of Hao Wenbao was dusty, and his cheeks hurt when the debris hung in the small dust pillars, although he and another second-company machine gun man desperately suppressed, and the magazines were hit one after another, but the congenital deficiency of the light machine gun was still unable to completely block the rushing enemy, and after the heavy machine gun ceased fire, this wave of Beiyang soldiers had rushed to within fifty meters.

"Get on the bayonet!"

The third battalion is an old unit of the first regiment, although it is worse than the first four battalions adapted from the 42nd standard and the security team, but in the face of the enemy's lifeless style of fighting was also aroused, the commander of the second company is a young man in his early twenties, seeing that the Beiyang soldiers have arrived, he simply pulled out his command knife and jumped out of the trench to launch a counter-charge ().

More than 100 soldiers of the second company jumped out of the bunker like a tiger and launched a counter-charge white-knuckle battle, Yang Qiu in the bunker was the first time to see this kind of fighting, in his time, white-bladed confrontation was extremely rare, only to see the soldiers jump out of the trench at the same time to shoot a bullet, and then rush forward with bayonets.

On the one hand, the Beiyang elite who wanted to take the position to attack the city pass from the side, and on the other hand, the soldiers of the second company who gritted their teeth and wanted to defend to the death, like two waves of Hong Feng colliding head-on, burst out with the strongest visual impact in an instant. The bayonets were shining, the butts of the guns were flying, large strands of blood were gushing out of the stabbed places, and even the intestines could be seen flowing from the wounds.

The "Tactical Manual of the Machine Gun Gun" prohibits the machine gun and gun men from participating in hand-to-hand combat, but it also lists the methods after encountering this situation, so Hao Wenbao immediately called the second company of machine guns to jump out of the trench and pull away to both sides, and then use oblique fire to help the infantry block the Beiyang soldiers who followed behind.

The two lines of fire cut the Beiyang infantry, and the Beiyang soldiers who launched the charge in front of them could not get support and gradually could not stop it, as a copper whistle began to retreat backwards, just when Yang Qiu breathed a sigh of relief, a ball of fireball suddenly covered the position of the second company, and the second company, which had just repelled the enemy and had no time to retreat into the trenches to evade, almost suffered the most tragic losses.

This scene almost made Yang Qiu dare not look down, the sharp Beiyang artillery seized a good opportunity, and when the platoon was over, the entire position was covered with corpses, and only half of the more than 100 soldiers of the second company escaped in time, and the rest were all killed by shells.

The encounter of the second company is almost a microcosm of the entire battlefield, although Wusheng Pass is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but as in the parallel world, the advantage of Beiyang artillery is too great, and the target of the pass is extremely obvious, so the troops pulled up will encounter the baptism of artillery shells almost as soon as they repel the enemy, and the casualty number is increasing at a shocking rate.

The fierce battle was fought until the evening, and after paying the price of nearly a thousand casualties again, the last group of Beiyang soldiers were finally exhausted and began to retreat, and after Hao Wenbao hit the last point shot, knocking down a limping Beiyang soldier, the entire Wusheng Pass was almost washed with blood, and the flames flowed endlessly on every inch of land.