On the position of a certain regiment on the eastern side of the Wusu River Valley, officers and men cowered in the trenches and slept soundly. The stars in the sky are bright, and the dark valley is quiet. Suddenly, the sound of horses' hooves was heard in the distance, striking the soldier's nerves violently. "Enemy Spotting!" The guard shouted at the outpost. "Get ready to fight! Get ready for battle! The officers gave orders one after another, and the sleeping soldiers immediately woke up, and suddenly the sound of pulling the bolt of the gun rang out. Soon, the artillery positions received orders from the division command and began intense artillery preparations.

Enemy cavalry appeared in front of the blocking position, and the Polish spearheads galloped quickly in two columns, torches in their hands, not expecting death to come. Soon the Polish cavalry came into effective range, and at the sound of an order, heavy machine guns and mortars opened fire first. In the light of the explosion, the Polish odd soldiers were beaten on their backs, about a platoon of top soldiers, two-thirds of the reimbursement, and the rest were either dead or wounded, and it was a blessing to survive such a dense rain of bullets.

With a sudden blow, the Polish cavalry was in disarray, and the large forces behind stopped advancing. Since the spearhead maintained a distance of about 1,000 meters from the large force, the soldiers and horses behind were not hit. Sław of the Chinese army held the reins of the horse in his hand, stretched his neck and looked forward in surprise, and a fast horse galloped over, "Report to the general, the front is blocked by the Chinese army, and a platoon of top soldiers is almost all reimbursed." When Sław heard this, he immediately became angry and said: "Order the forward troops to launch an attack immediately, quickly break through the Chinese army's defensive line, and advance towards Kuitun." ”

In less than half an hour, the Polish cavalry mobilized a regiment of cavalry and launched a fierce charge. In the darkness, the horses were galloping. The Polish cavalry was indeed formidable, and they braved the rain of bullets and bullets to advance one after another. The Polish cavalry launched an assault regardless of life and death. Make it difficult for the defenders to parry. At this moment, the artillery positions began to fire support, shells fell from the sky, shells exploded in the Polish cavalry formation, and the charging formation of the Polish cavalry immediately became a mess.

The artillery brigade used the artillery fire of a regiment to form an artillery blockade in the narrow river valley. The valley of the Wusu River is wide at both ends and narrow in the middle, and is flanked by ridges sandwiched by the Wusu River. The area of the exit blocking position on the east side of the Wusu River Valley. It is about 900 meters wide, which is very unfavorable for cavalry to attack. Therefore, the heavy artillery fire cost the Polish stormtroopers dearly in an instant. The strength of the first wave of the Polish army hit one regiment. Under heavy artillery fire, at least half of the casualties were lost.

"Report to the general, the Chinese army has at least 30 artillery pieces to form an artillery blockade area, and our troops have suffered heavy casualties and lost the attack!" The head of the forward regiment retreated in embarrassment to report. Sław was dumbfounded. The enemy's blocking force was supported by artillery fire on such a large scale. It shows that the enemy is prepared. A subordinate said: "General, the Chinese army has 30 artillery pieces, which means that the troops blocking the frontal attack have at least one brigade of strength, and the situation is not good!" ”

The commander of the Russian cavalry division caught up from behind, and this guy was almost as tall as Sław. After listening to Sław's statement, the commander of the Russian division said: "General Sław, dark is not conducive to the attack, and I suggest launching a group attack after dawn." The Chinese army on the opposite side is infantry, as long as we break through the defensive line. The enemy's artillery fire was useless, and they were given a glimpse of the power of the saber. Sław thought that the Russian division commander had a point. The order was then given to stop the attack, and a fierce attack was launched again at dawn. However, where did Sław and the Russian division commander think that their back road has been completely blocked.

After dawn, Sław and the Russian division commander carefully observed the defensive situation of the Chinese army, and believed that it was completely possible to break through the defensive line by launching a powerful assault to quickly cross the artillery blockade line. The commander of the Russian division was naturally deeply encouraged when he saw that the Polish army was working so hard. The commander of the Russian division ordered his men to storm quickly and not to let the Poles look down on them.

At the sound of an order, the Russian army and the Polish army each threw in a cavalry regiment and launched an overwhelming attack. As soon as the Russian and Polish cavalry entered the effective range of machine guns, they heard thunder and roar from the sky, and the artillery of a brigade fired a salvo like thunder. When Sław and the Russian division commander heard such a terrifying movement, they were dumbfounded, and their mouths opened wide and closed. Is this still artillery fire? The next scene was nothing short of a massacre. The entire front area was filled with smoke and dust, and the charging cavalry was completely submerged. Because the cavalry rode on a war horse and held the target high, the explosion of the cannonball was extremely lethal.

The artillery brigade had one regiment of 75-mm heavy guns and two regiments of 60-mm infantry guns. To put it mildly, heavy artillery is infantry artillery, and such dense artillery fire cannot be parried. And the 75-mm heavy gun, a shell smashed into the ground, can form a one-meter deep pit. Artillery is the god of war, at present, the artillery of the Chinese army, has completely formed a regular combat model, as an independent artillery unit, whether it is the level of training and tactical literacy, the effective strike power of artillery in actual combat, the coalition forces, including the Russian army, can not meet its standards.

Sław saw the Chinese army's artillery fire for the first time and fell into a state of dementia. The Russian division commander was quite sober and immediately ordered the troops to retreat. However, it was easy to retreat there, and the cavalry was inertia to move forward, and the Russian and Polish cavalry, which were lucky enough to pass the artillery attack, faced the rain of bullets and mortar bombardment. The large cloud of smoke and dust was still filled, and the battlefield ahead could not be seen clearly. Soon, the gunfire began to thin out, the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, and a terrifying scene appeared in front of everyone.

Within the valley there is a river Wusu, the bed of which is about a few tens of meters wide. In spring, the amount of water is low, and the riverbed is less than half a meter deep. At this time, the river turned red, and there were fallen war horses everywhere, after all, the war horses were tenacious, and many war horses were blown off their legs and struggled on the ground, chirping. Many wounded soldiers shouted loudly, and ghosts cried wolves. Some crawled towards the camp, others reached out for help. The scene was terrifying, and the soldiers were terrified. Sław and the Russian division stared, and a chill ran through the back of their necks. At this time, a red cross flag was erected on the position of the Chinese army, the meaning was very clear, it could rescue the wounded and not shoot the rescuer.

Subsequently, the Russian and Polish armies dispatched soldiers to rescue the wounded, and Sław experienced this kind of scene for the first time, and the face-to-face fighting advocated by Sław could not be done at all, and if he launched another attack, it would undoubtedly be death. Sław lost his fighting spirit and said: "The Chinese army chose to block at the mouth of the Wusu River, the purpose is to limit the cavalry from being able to quickly detour and maneuver, they have made careful preparations, at present our department has suffered nearly 2,000 casualties, and we don't know how many Chinese troops there are, I decided to retreat." ”

The Russian division commander did not receive the order to retreat and did not dare to make his own decisions, and Sław did not consult again but directly ordered a retreat. The commander of the Russian army was happy in his heart, at least the responsibility for retreating without authorization could not be counted on his head. The Polish cavalry was the first to retreat, and the Russian cavalry was cut off. The two armies came in high spirits and retreated into disgrace. The ranks were filled with a large number of wounded, and the fallen soldiers simply left alone.

On the blocking position of the 4th Division, an operational staff officer put down his binoculars and said, "Division commander, the enemy has retreated. The commander of the 4th division put down his binoculars and said with a smile: "The enemy can't run away, and the cavalry brothers are waiting for them." In order to effectively cooperate with the cavalry troops to completely annihilate the enemy, the reserve brigade was ordered to advance lightly along the ridges on both sides to prevent the enemy from abandoning his horse and escaping from the mountain. "The enemy attacked fiercely, and a small number of enemies rushed into the formation, but all of them were destroyed. Although there were casualties among the blocking soldiers, they were negligible.

At the eastern entrance of the Wusu River, the pockets are already tightened. Column Commander Lu Changlin said: "The 1st Cavalry Division takes the lead, the 2nd Cavalry Division forms the second line of defense, the 3rd Cavalry Division forms the third line of defense, and the 4th Cavalry Division is divided into north and south sides to support the 1st Division at any time." When the enemy finds out that it has been intercepted, he will definitely launch a decisive attack. , remember, the enemy who breaks through the 1st and 2nd lines of defense does not care about him, but the 3rd line of defense cannot run away from an enemy, understand? "Understood!" The four division commanders replied with their chests straight.

At this time, a reconnaissance cavalry team galloped over, and a second lieutenant officer led by rolled his saddle and dismounted: "Report to the commander, the 5th Division encountered a Russian cavalry division 20 kilometers to the west. The commander of the 5th division asked for new instructions. Lu Changlin said: "Order the commander of the 5th Division, if the first person does not move, we will not move, just drag the enemy, and ensure that the main force will completely annihilate the enemy in the river valley." ”

The subordinate said: "Commander, sure enough, there is a problem with the enemy's assembly, and this newly emerged Russian cavalry division may be stationed in Huocheng, otherwise it cannot be explained." "This Russian cavalry division should feel very lucky, otherwise it will become a turtle in an urn, no matter what, we are not busy in vain, it is not bad to be able to eat two enemy cavalry divisions," Lu Changlin was in a good mood, and picked up the binoculars again to observe the formation of the troops.

The 1st Cavalry Division took the lead, and the division commander Feng Jingzhang rode on his horse, waiting for the arrival of the battle with a grim face. All the officers and men held their hands on the hilt of their sabers, and looked ahead with vigour, without the slightest expression of timidity, but on the contrary, they had the momentum of a battle on the horse. The 1st Cavalry Division led by Feng Jingzhang was formed with Zuo Zongtang's Western Expedition Army and Toucheng's cavalry troops as the team. They have been on the battlefield for a long time, especially in the Inner Mongolian steppes against the fierce Cossack cavalry, and have withstood the test of blood and fire.

Now this cavalry division is more powerful, and their horse fighting skills have reached a very high level. With the conquest and the strengthening of their own skills, their self-confidence is also unprecedentedly high. For the cavalry units of the coalition forces, taking into account the unfavorable factors such as the superior arm strength of the Westerners and the loss of Liliang during fighting, the cavalry units summed up a set of tactics during training, and they were very effective.

The first division is lined up, and a brutal battle is about to be staged. (To be continued......)

PS: I wish you all a happy Chinese New Year, family reunion, all the best, and good health!