On the other side of the hill at this time:

"The staff officers made a big mistake!" After Li Laiheng reacted, he immediately issued an order: "Leave ten people on the top of the mountain to look, and we will meet the enemy on the northern slope."

After hearing Li Laiheng's order, the officer commanding the engineer squad hurriedly reminded him: "My lord, the order given to us by the wing is to occupy the pheasant hill and hold on until the whole wing arrives. ”

Li Laiheng looked at the endless Ming army in front of him, the 500 armored battalion of the intrusive army was among tens of thousands of new troops, like a lonely boat in the vast ocean, which could capsize in this turbulent wave at any time. The plan of the staff officers was undoubtedly a complete failure, and the main force of the new army was soon able to complete the rectification, and then go north to counterattack the invading army, which was rushing in a marching column: "The purpose of the general to occupy the fifth infantry wing of the Pheasant Hill is to isolate the reconnaissance of the officers and men, so that the officers and men cannot correctly judge the strength of our army, but the officers and men have obviously seen through the general's strategy, and their forces are not scattered, on the contrary, our forces are scattered. ”

Li Laiheng didn't care about sorting out his thoughts, and basically said what came to his mind immediately, so that his colleagues around him could understand or help him find mistakes: "The New Army sent 300 people to control the Pheasant Ridge for the same purpose as us, they wanted to delay time, and they wanted to prevent the general from correctly judging the movements of the New Army. Obviously, the opponent did not expect that the 300 garrison New Army would make such a tactical mistake and be caught by Li Laiheng, so quickly losing control of Pheasant Gang: "If we stay on the southern slope, it will be too obvious, and the New Army will come to attack us if they are uncomfortable with us." ”

"Put the flag away!" Li Laiheng saw that the flag of the armored battalion was being planted on the highest peak of Pheasant Hill, he ran over and pulled up the flagpole, and shouted loudly while collecting the flag: "We are delaying time, what are we planting the flag for?" Are you afraid that the officers and soldiers will not come to fight us? ”

If the defense is deployed on the southern slope of Yejigang, then the intrusive army can exclusively enjoy the reconnaissance advantage brought by this commanding height, but Li Laiheng did not intend to make such an attempt, he ordered the soldiers to immediately retreat to the northern slope, and at the same time ordered? defense on the entire front, and other battalions do not seem to have come to take over the position.

"Maybe the commander is going to concentrate his forces to fight back with all his might." Wei Wu speculated like this, he calculated the battle situation in his heart: "If the commander wants to fight back with all his might, he will use the five battalions at hand, and our Chizhuo battalion should continue to cover and monitor, the matter has already happened, I can't be in a hurry, so as not to make mistakes on top of mistakes." ”

Wei Wu served under the Marquis of Zhendong very early, and every time the Marquis of Zhendong's orders were very clear, and they must be implemented to the letter, and the overall planning was the business of the Marquis of Zhendong, and Wei Wu did not need to think about it. After the rebuilding of the new army, Wei Wu was directly promoted from the previous team officer to the battalion officer, but despite this, he always carried out orders under a higher commander, and each order was very clear, and if he needed to play it personally, the scope of his play was also very clear.

At the same time, Wu Zhong couldn't wait, he personally led his guards to the battlefield, and the main force of the Evergreen Battalion was rapidly completing the assembly, he saw that the Chizhuo Battalion had not yet completed the assembly, so he ordered loudly: "Don't wait, we will attack immediately, tell General He, cover our flank, if he can't cooperate, take over the task of our Evergreen Battalion." ”

"Over the positions of the Red Scorching Battalion!" After Wu Zhong sent a herald to inform him of his intentions, he personally rushed to the two infantry teams on the front line: "Attack!" ”

After receiving the second notification of the Evergreen Battalion's intentions, Wei Wu pondered for a moment, and when he saw that the infantry of the Evergreen Battalion had begun to cross the battle line of the Chizhuo Battalion, Wei Wu finally made up his mind.

"Let General He give up the front to General Wu," Wei Wu sent someone to inform He Feibao to withdraw the troops of the Chizhuo Battalion from the attack surface of the Changqing Battalion, so as not to cause confusion or create obstacles for Wu Zhong: "We continue the orders of the commander and monitor the movements of the intruders. ”

Because the Evergreen Battalion was inserted into the battle line of the Chizhuo Battalion from the middle, Wei Wude's command system suddenly became unsmooth, and he himself could no longer see clearly the banner and situation blocked by the Evergreen Battalion on the other side. And the rolling Changqing battalion is obviously impossible to pass all at once, if the battle in front is not smooth, Wei Wu will not be able to see the battle situation on the other side of his battalion for a long time: "Let General He be fully responsible for the left flank and inform me of his situation at any time." ”

……

Seeing a group of horse-drawn carriages on the road to the north galloping towards Pheasant Gang, Li Laiheng knew that this was an advance artillery unit, so he immediately ran down the north slope, ran towards the group of carriages, and waved to stop them.

Gu Mengliu jumped from the first carriage, after he left the Changqing camp to join Xu Ping, Xu Ping appointed him as the artillery prime minister who broke into the camp, and after the implementation of the military rank system, Xu Ping gave him the position of major, which was the highest-ranking artillery officer. Xu Ping did not have the resources to match all the battalions with artillery teams, and the armored battalion was a battalion without its own direct artillery team, and Xu Ping knew that the artillery firepower of the new army was strong, and he was unwilling to let his infantry fight the new army without fire cover, so he concentrated the six-gun artillery team of the guards battalion and the four-gun artillery team directly under him to form this fast field artillery team.

In Xu Ping's plan, the 5th Infantry Wing would face an attack by the New Army Rear Guard Battalion in the first hour, so that when his rapid artillery team arrived, it could form a firepower comparable to that of the New Army Rear Guard Battalion, and they would provide covering fire for the infantry to assist the infantry in holding this commanding height.

Because he knew that this artillery team had a heavy responsibility, Gu Mengliu set off with them and planned to take command in person, but after being stopped by Li Laiheng, Gu Mengliu opened his mouth and asked: "Major Li, have you occupied Pheasant Gang?" ”

"Occupied, but the artillery could not go up the mountain." Li Laiheng told Gu Mengliu what he saw: The New Army on the opposite side had basically completed the whole team, and all their artillery appeared on this battlefield, if Gu Mengliu dragged the ten guns in his hand up the mountain, then he might face the firepower of hundreds of guns of the New Army.

"If our artillery doesn't show up, maybe they won't attack fiercely, but if you go up, they will definitely fight back violently, and you will be torn to pieces." Moreover, Li Laiheng believed that it was impossible to hold the northern slope at all, so the infantry could not guarantee the safety of the artillery arranged on the ridge: "There are 30,000 officers and soldiers there, and if they storm it, I will not be able to hold out for a quarter of an hour." ”

"The order given to me by the general is that if the infantry has not yet captured the Pheasant Gang, then support the infantry to quickly capture it, and once the Pheasant Gang is captured, immediately drag the artillery up the hill and condescendingly bombard all visible officers and soldiers." Gu Mengliu was also taken aback when he heard this, his previous pre-war planning had always been how to engage a battalion of New Army artillery, kill and injure the baggage personnel of the New Army, and destroy their vehicles, just now on the way he was still repeatedly checking with his subordinates to confirm their attack priorities: artillery, vehicles, and infantry. But Gu Mengliu quickly reacted, as a major officer of the same rank, he was not qualified to question Li Laiheng's request: "However, according to the regulations on breaking into the camp, the infantry officer of the same rank on the scene has the supreme command, Major Li, I unconditionally obey your orders." ”

"Okay, I want the artillery to aim at the highest part of the ridge," Li Laiheng pointed to several positions on the ridgeline, which were either relatively flat or suitable for a large number of people to pass quickly on the north and south slopes: "When the officers and soldiers appear in these positions, I want Major Gu to shoot at these places." ”

"Is that all there are?"

"Yes, I will tell Major Gu in advance about the specific shelling sequence."

"No problem." Gu Mengliu quickly selected the artillery position, each artillery group began to dig pits to prepare for the deployment of artillery, and several subordinates went forward with the engineer team to measure the distance and height difference between the artillery position and the enemy attack points predicted by Li Laiheng. Gu Mengliu himself was not idle, he walked up the mountain step by step, and whispered the count in his mouth.

"Your Excellency." A sentry who was in charge of monitoring the movements of the New Army on the top of the hill ran down the mountain, and he was sweating profusely like Li Laiheng: "The officers and soldiers have been killed. ”

Li Laiheng and Gu Mengliu glanced at each other, and at the same time ran towards the hill quickly, and the leaders of each running group under Gu Mengliu also followed him and rushed towards the hill together.

Although he was already mentally prepared, but suddenly seeing the lineup of 30,000 officers and soldiers appear in front of him, Gu Mengliu still gasped, this overwhelming enemy army was so close to him, Gu Mengliu froze at the same time, and heard a low exclamation behind him.

"What kind of flag was planted just now?" Li Laiheng's forehead, which had just been wiped dry, suddenly sweated again, and he shouted with remorse: "I'm still late." ”

"It's the Evergreen Camp." Gu Mengliu saw two team flags painted with emerald green praying mantis swaying in front of him, less than two years ago, Gu Mengliu's responsibility was to cover them with artillery, his eyes were far behind the two infantry teams, looking for his former position, and he also found the artillery team of the Evergreen Battalion there. Looking at the small and vague figures who were busy around the flashing cannon body, Gu Mengliu softly read out a few names, those were the names of his past subordinates, presumably these people should still be in the period.

I still remember that during the First Battle of Shandong, Gu Mengliu and his subordinates blew up the artillery on Xu Ping's orders and incorporated them into the infantry team to fight, and in the dark night, he vaguely saw Xu Ping and Wu Zhong saluting and bidding farewell to the majestic Zhang Chengye, and the young artillery officer felt that his tears were about to flow out. Then again, Gu Mengliu stood behind Wu Zhong and saluted and said goodbye to Deputy Battalion Officer Xu, who had been riding on a horse, training, and commanding himself for many days, and had taken himself to fight on the battlefield - this time Gu Mengliu's tears really flowed out, and within a few hours, he parted with the two most respected commanders in life and death.

Then there was the desperate escape, and the anxious soldiers had to cross the river until they could breathe a sigh of relief, and then there was endless hope, waiting for the news that the troops had broken up after the break, and the life and death of the commander were unknown.

But there was still hope, after all, the standard-bearer who fled back did not see the commander die with his own eyes, and this hope was not completely dashed until he was called to the battalion, and Adjutant Wu asked all the officers in the battalion to sign it, accusing Adjutant Xu of modifying the plan without authorization, not doing reconnaissance, and being greedy for merit.

"It's not true!" With Yu Shenhe's loud shout, many officers of the Changqing Battalion, including Gu Mengliu, refused to sign, and General Wu threatened with military law, but these young officers still refused to give in, and heard that Zhendonghou had rushed to Shandong, and that night they discussed to collectively go to Zhendonghou to protest, but of course this news was immediately learned by the battalion and reported to the authorities.

And the reaction of the General Staff Department was: this is a rebellion.

Without waiting for these officers to set off, the troops of the fire battalion drove outside the camp, and surrounded the disobedient officers in the camp of the Changqing Battalion. At that time, the faces of the colleagues in the artillery team were also full of panic.

In the end, Yang Zhiyuan galloped into the camp, and the officer who had no master for a long time was just worried about being baptized in blood, but now that he saw that there was a way to live, of course, no one dared to resist. Sent back to Beijing, with continuous inspections and harsh interrogations, Gu Mengliu spent the darkest part of his life as a military marquis.

The news of General Xu finally came, Yu Shenhe came to visit late at night, escaped from the Beijing division in tandem, 34 officers and soldiers, and finally only 18 arrived in Luoyang alive.

Gu Mengliu's thoughts were interrupted by the discussion of his subordinates behind him:

"It's the Red Burning Camp."

"It's Tianyi Battalion."

"It's the Strike Battalion."

Many of his subordinates found their original troops, Xu Ping captured a large number of new troops in continuous battles, although the infantry was released, but all technical arms were detained by Xu Ping, and he would rather raise them than let them go back to serve in the new army.

Over time, a considerable number of people began to pay allegiance to Xu Ping, and they helped Xu Ping train the technical troops to break into the camp, and of course there were also a large number of gunners. Although with the help of these prisoners, he broke into the camp and trained some of the artillery himself, but the most skilled artillery crews were all former members of the New Army, and the elite gunners and gunners brought by Gu Mengliu were all from the New Army without exception.

The vanguard of the Evergreen Battalion had already stepped on the hill, and Li Laiheng realized that the ridge had become unsafe, so he turned to Gu Mengliu and said, "Major Gu, let's go down quickly." ”

"Okay." Gu Mengliu saw that the running group of the Evergreen Battalion had been deployed in place, and according to his experience, these artillery pieces could fire at any time. Although the time was very short, Gu Mengliu had already roughly seen the offensive deployment of the Changqing Battalion, and speculated about their possible main attack position, and it was meaningless to stay in this dangerous place again.

While retreating from the ridge with Li Laiheng, Gu Mengliu briefly issued orders to his subordinates to fine-tune the positions of each artillery group. After receiving the order, the leaders of these artillery groups responded one after another, and then ran to their respective posts at a rapid pace.

Taking advantage of the fact that Gu Mengliu was separated from his subordinates, Li Laiheng asked in a low voice, "Major Gu, most of your subordinates are from the side of the officers and soldiers, right?" ”

After hearing Li Laiheng's question, Gu Mengliu said lightly: "I myself came from the side of the officers and soldiers, and so did the general. ”

Li Laiheng hurriedly apologized: "Major Gu forgives, I don't mean that, I just mean that they were officers and soldiers not long ago, and I can't help but be a little worried that the situation is so tense." ”

"Now they are my subordinates, they are breaking into the army," Gu Mengliu turned around and walked back to the artillery position, and said to Li Laiheng: "You have to worry about the officers and soldiers on the opposite side of them." ”

……

"Let the battalions be ready for battle," Huang Xiwen ordered the five battalions around the battalion to prepare for battle after receiving the attack report of the Changqing battalion, but he had not yet thought about whether to attack head-on or counterattack in a roundabout way, he felt that this needed to be better understood about the enemy situation before he could decide: "The Panshi battalion and the Xuanfeng battalion outflanked the two flanks of Yejigang. ”

Huang Xiwen anxiously waited for the results of the attack of the Changqing battalion, if it was tens of thousands of troops, he would be pinned down head-on, the two wings were roundabout, he looked back at the camp gate of the big camp again, Yang Zhiyuan had not come out yet, "Uncle Yang looked very painful just now." Huang Xiwen didn't want to disturb him at this time.

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