February 19, the fourteenth day of the first lunar month.

At the foot of Yunmeng Mountain in the upper reaches of the Xiaoling River, although it was already more than ten o'clock in the evening, the road under the mountain was still full of people, and a full moon reflected the residual snow on the mountain beam, Wu Peifu stood on the ridge and looked at the slow marching team on the road, and his heart was extremely anxious.

As early as when the troops set off, he told Cao Kun that there were three strategies. The best strategy was to leave one army to hold out in Jinzhou to buy enough time for the evacuation of the army. But Cao Sanye disagreed, Cao Kun said that there could be no conflict with the Russians, this was Lao Yuan's order, so it was impossible to consider sticking to it.

There is also a middle strategy, dividing the army into two routes, one army escorting the people, and the other army carrying heavy artillery. Although this will not speed up the movement of the troops, it will keep the troops from falling into confusion, and if the Russians do catch up, there will be a response.

But this Jihua Cao Kun did not agree.

There is also a strategy, abandon those people, blow up all the artillery fire, and move forward lightly! This strategy is very appealing to the third master, but Yuan Shikai did not agree. The 2,000 artillery pieces in Jinzhou were obtained by Yuan Shikai with a lot of effort, and you are going to blow them up?

And those fellow villagers, they can't move now.

Because after hearing the news of the Russians' march into Jinzhou, many reporters had already rushed over from Beijing, and Lao Yuan asked Cao Kun to make sure that these people must be arranged, try to gain an advantage in public opinion, and let the reporters report in detail on the process of the people's escape and the protection of the Beiyang Army, in the hope of winning domestic understanding and winning the support of the international community.

Therefore, although Cao Kun usually obeys Wu Peifu's words. But at this critical time, not a single strategy has been adopted. In this way, the Beiyang Army dragged heavy artillery and led the people slowly on the road. A slight cannon wheel got trapped, and the whole army had to stop and wait for a while.

Cao Kun's own soldiers ran over from the front: "General Wu, Cao Dashuai said that it was getting late, and ordered you to stop and rest immediately, and continue to advance tomorrow morning." ”

Wu Peifu's eyes closed for a while, he knew that it was already more than ten o'clock, but why did Weishenme get dark so quickly this day? From getting up at five o'clock in the morning to march until now, I have only walked thirty kilometers, why do I have to stop again? Time, it seems, is very insufficient.

A long sigh. Then he turned his head and gave the order: "All units set up camp and rest." Alert posts were discharged within ten kilometers, and the rear troops were ready for battle. ”

When the Beiyang Army began to camp and rest, General Gulegrevich's troops were running wildly!

These Russians are not used to walk, they are running! Including Guray Grevich himself is running. It was already very cold in the northeast at ten o'clock. But these old hairy people are running in a hot sweat. Many of them were dressed openly, their plush chests exposed, and the sweat oozing from their bodies evaporated with heat.

Gulegrevich tripped over a stone without paying attention. The whole person threw himself on the ground, and the Russian colonel behind hurriedly came over to support him: "General, we should take a rest, everyone has no strength, and you look at our team, now I can't find where my soldiers are!" ”

Gulegrevich did not pat the dust off his body after getting up: "You don't need to know where your soldiers are, you just need to know that the Chinese are in front!" I bet we're twenty kilometres away from them at most now, let the lads go a little faster, and we'll catch up with them tonight! Tell the boys that this is no longer Liaodong, and they can do whatever they want after catching up with those people! If they want to try Chinese women, run a little faster for me! ”

After all, the colonel didn't say anything more: "Yes! ”

Gulegrevich began to run again, and as he ran he took a piece of black bread from his bosom, stuffed it into his mouth, and then opened the flask next to him and took a sip of vodka, without slowing down at all.

At about two o'clock in the morning of the 20th, Gulegrevich finally chased after Xiaolinghe, and the Russian soldiers in front had already discovered the sentry post of the Beiyang Army, and he stopped at this time to reorganize the team a little.

The Russian soldiers in the back came running one after another, and basically everyone collapsed to the ground when they arrived here, gulping for heavy clothes.

Gulegrevich was also tired, but he knew it wasn't time for him to rest. Picking up the binoculars and looking ahead, the Beiyang Army actually set up an interception line, which really surprised him.

Chasing all the way from Jinzhou to here, this group of Beiyang Army gave him the impression that it was a team that only knew how to escape. According to Gulegrevich's impression of this type of troops, they should be unguarded now, and it would be good to put a few sentry posts.

"It seems that they are not vulnerable! Colonel, come and see the interception line they have arranged, just in front of us, and if you want to rush in, you must break through this line and get the lad ready for battle! ”

The Russian soldier next to him finally couldn't stand it anymore: "General! Shall we take a break? Just rest for half an hour! Now I can't really hold a gun! ”

Gulegrevich walked up and kicked him: "Get up!" Get all in combat mode! ”

He knew that this was definitely not the time to rest, because the soldiers were so tired that once he allowed them to fall, they would not get up for half an hour. What should be done now is to use the remaining physical strength in the body to charge the opposite side and catch the opponent by surprise!

As long as the battle is won, you can sleep well.

The Chinese position on the opposite side seemed to be very heavily guarded, and some figures could be seen shaking from time to time. And there were less than 3,000 Russians around him, and it was a crazy idea to charge 100,000 with 3,000.

But Gulegrevich had to do it, because if he won it, he would make a name for himself.

The Russian GIs gasped and got up from the ground, and Gulegrevich found the three highest-ranking men of the three thousand, two lieutenant colonels and one colonel. There are also a few captains and lieutenants who don't think about it, and all of them are used as soldiers. There is no need to find out who is on what team, just divide the nearly 3,000 into three troops and attack immediately!

"We don't have time to prepare the troops now, one of you with a thousand soldiers, colonel, you immediately attack from the opposite side of the Chinese and rush up desperately!" And the two of you, wait for the colonel to rush to the Chinese position, and attack from both flanks! We're going to make it confusing to figure out how many of us really have! ”

"Understood, General."

Gulegrevich nodded and said: "I'm here waiting for the soldiers behind to run over, once I have gathered a thousand people, I will personally lead people to rush up!" Remember, just punch along their camp and don't give them a chance to gather! Get ready to fight, and we will create a great victory. ”

After Gulegrevich finished speaking, the Russian troops immediately entered the state of attack, they did not have heavy artillery, and even because they ran too fast, those heavy machine guns and light machine guns were left behind, and they did not come up. The Russian GIs had only rifles and pistols in their hands, and only a small number of rifles and grenades capable of destroying firing points.

The Beiyang Army on the opposite position was fully prepared, with five or six heavy machine guns on the position, light machine guns, and even artillery behind them to support them. The only thing they don't have is a sense of battle.

The reason why Cao Sanye did not agree with Wu Peifu's three battle plans was because he did not think that the Russians would catch up. Yuan Shikai has been negotiating with the Russians in Beijing for the past two days, and countries such as Britain and France have also put pressure on Lao Maozi to stop the Russians' military operations.

At this time, the Russian minister Lanniko was renegotiating with Yuan Shikai on the issue of Jinzhou and Mongolia, and according to Cao Sanye's idea, the Russian troops should stop in Jinzhou now, and what they want to do is also after the news comes from the negotiation table.

Cao San really doesn't have much ability, if it weren't for Wu Peifu's insistence, he wouldn't even be sent out of the cordon.

And the soldiers of the Beiyang Army are the same, after leaving Jinzhou, their panic slowly dissipated, replaced by paralysis, as the footsteps get closer and closer to Jianchang, their defensive heart is gradually relaxed.

Although he was in charge of vigilance, Zhen Sanshan really didn't take this matter to heart, and after arranging for a few soldiers to watch the situation in front of him, he himself lay in the trench that he had dug out temporarily and had already fallen asleep with the quilt in his arms.

And those vigilant soldiers are gathering together, giggling around a bunch of bonfires and telling some jokes that are not funny, only Zeng Xiaoliang, a new soldier, seems to still have a little appearance, crawling on the position, staring at the grass and trees in front of him, performing the duties of a soldier.

In fact, the combat effectiveness of the Beiyang Army is not weak! Lao Yuan spent a lifetime of hard work building this army, and they were well-equipped, if they really opened up a position to fight, it might not be so easy for the Russians to break through Jinzhou.

Sometimes, wars are not lost on the battlefield. When you don't have the belief to fight at all, winning or losing is already doomed before the guns go off.

Zeng Xiaoliang suddenly saw that something seemed to be moving in front of him, and immediately raised his vigilance. If it was an experienced soldier, he would have already started shouting at this time, but unfortunately although he was dutiful, he didn't have much experience, and most importantly, Zhen Sanshan stepped on his glasses! He really didn't see it very clearly!

There seemed to be more and more things moving, Zeng Xiaoliang felt a little uneasy, and hurriedly patted Zhen Sanshan beside him: "Hey! Feed! Something seems to be moving ahead. ”

Zhen Sanshan was sleeping Zhengxiang, and he was too lazy to get up at this time, and after frowning, he turned over, and he didn't get up to look at it at all, but just shouted: "Lao Yue, look at what is on the other side." ”

A man in his forties stood up in the middle of the group of soldiers who were chatting, and complained to Zeng Xiaoliang as he got up: "My eyes are not good, this roe deer rabbit or something is running around, shouting something....... hey!" Not good! The old hairy man is here! (To be continued......)