Now that the invading army has not yet completed the assembly, the wing officer agrees with Li Laiheng's view, the top priority is to delay the attack speed of the Ming army to buy time for the main force of the invading army, and now the fifth infantry wing is the target to attract firepower for the main force: "We must hold the pheasant post, and we must not let the officers and soldiers pass." ”

There are about 500 soldiers in the last group of soldiers in the 5th Infantry Wing, and they will arrive soon, followed by the troops directly under the armored battalion and the 6th Infantry Wing, they are not expected to arrive immediately, the wing officer thinks that Li Laiheng's method is good, and hopes to use this method to repel the next attack of the Ming army.

"My lord, our forces are not enough to hold the entire ridge," Li Laiheng saw that the officers and soldiers had completed the assembly and the attack was imminent, so he hurriedly suggested to the wing officer: "I feel that we should concentrate our forces to hold the center. ”

"Give up the wings to the officers and soldiers?"

"As long as we hold the center, then the officers and men will not be able to pull up the artillery, and our infantry can firmly line up in a horizontal line to resist the officers and soldiers, and if the officers and soldiers flank us from both flanks, then our artillery can shoot at their horizontal column, so that we still have an advantage."

The wing officer pondered for a moment, nodded and said, "Major Li said it very well. ”

The battle just now cost the Chuang army nearly 100 casualties, and now the fifth infantry wing still has 1,400 infantry, and the Chuang army leaves 200 infantry on each wing, and they can withdraw to the bottom of the mountain to cover the artillery position when they are under pressure, and the remaining 1,000 people are all concentrated in the center, of which 300 are led by Li Laiheng to the top of the mountain to prepare to block the southern slope of the Ming army.

After completing the mobilization, the Evergreen Battalion launched another attack, first bombarding the intrusive troops on the top of the hill with dense artillery, and with the rumbling cannon, the war drums of the Evergreen Battalion sounded again. The five infantry marched forward in a neat manner and rushed up to the pheasant hill. Wu Zhong and the staff officers of the Changqing Battalion held binoculars and looked at their troops holding high the flag, waiting for the moment to take Pheasant Gang in one fell swoop.

This time, in the face of the artillery of the officers and men, the intruders on the top of the hill did not retreat as quickly as they did last time, but rushed forward and opened fire on the officers and men who climbed up the mountain. And their firepower was mainly concentrated in the center of the Ming army, and two salvos caused dozens of Ming soldiers to fall at the foot of the mountain. Wu Zhong's first reaction was to let the troops continue to advance, at this time, the Ming artillery was also very clear about the distance after many shots, and they quickly adjusted the muzzle of the cannon and poured fire to the position of the invading army on the top of the mountain. However, this firepower did not drive the intruders back, and they ignored the fire around them and continued to fire at the advancing Ming infantry.

With two more volleys, Wu Zhong's endurance reached its limit, and he couldn't watch his army continue to climb the mountain in the face of the firepower of the invading army, and with his order, the Ming army in the center stopped and began to fight back at the intruding army on the hillside. At the same time, the Ming troops on both flanks continued to advance slowly, intending to flank the enemy forces in the center from both sides.

Li Laiheng, who commanded the blocking troops on the southern slope, saw that the Ming army was approaching from both flanks, so he ordered the blocking troops to retreat slowly and retreat step by step towards the ridge. At the same time, Li Laiheng also carried out a certain evacuation of the formation to reduce the damage of the Ming artillery to his side, and the invading army was not too far from the top of the mountain, and they quickly retreated to the ridgeline, where Li Laiheng once again gained a firm foothold and commanded the troops to shoot at the intruding army in front.

Before this, Wu Zhong had been keeping a close eye on the hundreds of troops who were slowly retreating, he had been carefully controlling the five infantry teams, if the troops did not retreat, a flanking attack from three sides was enough to completely destroy the troops, but as the troops retreated back to the top of the mountain, Wu Zhong did not let the two wings continue to move forward, but restored the center and the two wings to a posture of advancing in unison. Wu Zhong had already explained to his officers that if he found that the artillery of the invading army had been transferred, he would not need to rush to pursue and control the whole post with peace of mind; If they saw that the invading artillery did not retreat, they rushed down the mountain with all their strength and captured it.

Wu Zhong's subordinates did not see the arrival of reinforcements from the invading army, so in Wu Zhong's opinion, this was the last effort of the invading army, hoping to kill and wound as many officers and soldiers as possible. Therefore, Wu Zhong planned to let the Ming army cross the ridge on the whole line at the same time, not giving the artillery of the intrusion army more time to play, watching the red flag of the Ming army approaching the top of the mountain again, according to the information just now, Wu Zhong secretly calculated in his heart: "The invading army should still have about 200 cavalry and infantry, where are they probably deployed at this time?" ”

Li Laiheng commanded his subordinates to fire the last salvo at the Ming army, and then turned around and ran back, and the remaining soldiers of the invading army followed closely behind him one by one, and ran back to the north slope together to join the array of the invading army.

Looking at the intrusive army that disappeared from view, Wu Zhong frowned and did not order the pursuit, the two thousand Ming soldiers will maintain a neat battle line, and continue to walk towards the top of the mountain unhurriedly, Wu Zhong looked at the backs of the soldiers, and said softly: "Don't mess up when you have absolute superiority, you won't give the enemy any chance." ”

The Central Ming Army was immediately attacked by the artillery of the Chuang Army after crossing the ridgeline, and when they saw that there was smoke and dust rising from the top of the mountain, the staff officers of the Changqing Battalion were a little surprised that the artillery of the Chuang Army had not yet retreated, which made them all very happy, and it was not easy for the Chuang Battalion to manufacture firearms with excellent performance, so taking their firearms from the Chuang Battalion would mean causing a long-term weakening of the combat effectiveness of the Chuang Army.

But what happened next surprised the staff officers of the Changqing battalion, the central Ming army stopped and did not continue to advance, apparently unable to continue to advance due to strong resistance, and the Ming army on the left flank did not carry out the prior order to rush down the hill to destroy the artillery position of the invading army, but began to move closer to the center.

"What the hell is going on?"

Wu Zhong asked anxiously, waiting for the infantry on the front line to send back a mixed message: the Ming army in the center reported that they had encountered fierce resistance from a large number of intruding troops, and the enemy army seemed to outnumber them, so the Ming army was not only unable to advance, but also suffered huge casualties. The Ming officers on the left flank reported that they noticed the fierce resistance of the central intruding army, so they decided to rotate to the center to support the central offensive. However, whether it was the center or the left flank, or the right flank, which continued to attack according to the plan, their vision was obstructed by the enemy forces in the center and they could not see the whole situation clearly.

Although he shouldered the heavy responsibility of commanding the whole battalion, Wu Zhong immediately ran to the top of Yejigang Mountain and went to the front line to observe the battle situation. Because the two armies on the central front are engaged in fierce battles, Wu Zhong can only run to the position of the right flank to look down at the invasion army on the north slope, the right wing of the Ming army is still downhill according to the prior plan to attack the artillery of the invasion army, because the central Ming army can not advance so their flanks have been exposed, and now they are being attacked by fire from the flank, they have retreated to the preset bunker at the foot of the mountain, nearly half of the troops on the right wing of the Ming army have to cover the flank, so the troops that can attack the invasion army will not exceed one infantry. Because he could not see the battle situation on the left flank, Wu Zhong could not make up his mind for a while, he did not give further orders but hurried to the other flank of the battle line with the guards.

At this time, in front of the artillery position of the Ming army, Li Laiheng was carefully planning a counterattack, the Ming army on the left flank of the Chuang army had advanced to the front of the artillery position, and the Ming army on the right flank did not go downhill and did not put any pressure on the Chuang army, so Li Laiheng was able to transfer the reserves of the right flank to the left flank. The 200 troops on the right flank passed behind the central army, and the smoke of gunpowder stirred up by thousands of people on the central front brought good concealment to the maneuver of the army, and the Ming army did not notice this army.

After Wu Zhong ran to the other wing of the Ming army, the battle situation in the central area was still in a state of stalemate, the smoke of the large regiment and the large regiment came to the face, Wu Zhong on the top of the mountain, and the staff officers behind him were all smoked to tears, but they still tried their best to keep their eyes open and observe every move of the two armies in the smoke. After noticing that the Ming army on this side did not launch a diversionary attack at all, Wu Zhong frowned and said, "Immediately send an order to our right flank to stop advancing." ”

The herald shouted loudly, retreating from the north slope to the south slope, bypassing behind the central infantry and running to the other side to deliver the order. At this time, the ordered target continued to stride towards the position of the invading army, and the invading army in front of them began to be unable to resist, and was gradually pressed back by the offensive of the evergreen battalion.

"Onward! Advance! The officer shouted encouragement to his men, ignoring the lead bullets flying by: "Let the thieves see how good we are!" ”

"What a combat-ready officer and soldier!" Li Laiheng, who was pressing the formation at the foot of the mountain, looked at the Ming army that was getting closer and closer to the battle line, and he had the feeling of encountering the invincible new army in Ci County.

Gu Mengliu had already commanded the artillery to shoot at this new army, and after hearing Li Laiheng's emotion, he said with a cold face: "This is the battalion brought out by the general, of course it is extraordinary. ”

"We are also soldiers brought out by the general." When Li Laiheng heard this, he suddenly became arrogant, shouted, turned to Gu Mengliu and said, "Major Gu, I need a salvo before I charge, the closer the better." ”

After hearing Li Laiheng's request, Gu Mengliu asked, "Then when you start to charge, how about I shell again?" ”

"Self is the best."

Gu Mengliu immediately ordered all artillery groups to stop firing, and the artillery that had been bombarding other positions also turned to the left.

The Ming army officer who walked down from the top of the slope suddenly found that a group of intruding troops had been assembled behind the smoke of gunpowder, and the bayonets had been loaded, so he hurriedly ordered the army to stop. At this moment, the intruding army on the opposite side shouted, and rushed up to meet them in unison, and the officer of the Ming army raised his command sword: "Aim-"

Before the words fell, the Ming army saw a row of firelight coming out from behind the gunpowder smoke in front of them, and at the same time as they heard the continuous artillery sound, a piece of shells had already flown in front of them, and one or two rounds smashed into the charging army, knocking down the soldiers in the charging camp from behind, but most of them hit the Ming army, and then bounced into the battle line of the Ming army, hitting the Ming soldiers in rows, stirring up huge smoke and dust. The sound of crashing and shouting drowned out the officer's order to open fire, and the sudden shelling caused confusion for a few seconds in the Ming army, and just as they recovered, the intruding army had already rushed in front of them.

"Charge!" Seeing that the situation was not good, the officers immediately swung their swords and stepped forward to meet them, and the soldiers who had not had time to shoot were awakened by this shout, and saw that the officers had already rushed towards the intruding army, and they also brandished their guns to fight with the soldiers who broke into the camp.

Although the close-range shelling disrupted the Ming formation, and prevented them from firing, Li Laiheng met fierce resistance. However, due to the scattered formation of the Ming army, their counterattack appeared a little weak, and the small number of Ming troops who rushed over were quickly stabbed to death by the intruding army advancing in unison. But the Ming army did not retreat, and a group of soldiers gathered around an officer who was clearly the leader, struggling to resist the attack of the intruding army.

The advancing army detoured back to the flanks of this small group of new troops, surrounded them, and their numbers were drastically reduced, and finally, with the fall of the leading officer, the resistance of the Ming army finally collapsed. After the officers were killed, the new army, which had lost most of its officers, could no longer hold it up and turned around and ran back to the top of the hill.

"It's better to be hit by two cannons from your own people than to charge with a salvo from the other side." Li Laiheng put the blood-stained sword back into the sheath, he was unable and did not intend to chase after the retreating new army, anyway, the threat from this side had been eliminated, and he was anxious to lead the team back to the central front. Before he could wipe the blood and sweat from his face, a herald ran to his side, and an urgent report came into his ears: "Major Li, battalion officer, he is dead." ”

Now the entire Pheasant Gang battlefield is shrouded in thick gunsmoke, and the battalion officers of the armored battalion had to run to the front line in order to observe the battlefield, and were hit by stray bullets and died on the spot.

After taking over the command of the whole battalion, Li Laiheng and several battalion staff officers gathered in front of the artillery position to discuss the battle situation: "At present, the Ming army has the advantage on both flanks, while we have the advantage in the center. ”

Li Laiheng looked at the more than 200 soldiers lined up behind the artillery position, and resolutely ordered: "Pull them all up, launch a counterattack in the center, and we will take back the mountain." ”

"But that's the last bit of infantry we've had." A staff officer said worriedly: "We don't have any more reserves. ”

The two hundred soldiers had just arrived on the battlefield, and they had not had time to catch their breath, and they were also the last formed infantry of the armored battalion, followed by the newly formed avant-garde battalion. In Xu Ping's original plan, Yeji Gang would not be attacked too fiercely at this time, and the recruits of the avant-garde battalion were enough to assist the armored battalion in consolidating its position, and he did not intend to use the elite troops that broke into the battalion in this kind of defensive warfare.

Even these recruits of the avant-garde battalion who are not satisfied with the formation are estimated to arrive within half an hour, so the staff officer said that the infantry of the two hundred armored battalions is already the last reserve in their hands, and the staff officers dissuaded Li Laiheng and said: "My lord, if we use them to counterattack, then once there is a problem on any front, our defense line will collapse, and the officers and soldiers will sweep our positions, and we will not even have troops to cover the artillery retreat, or delay the time for the soldiers in front of us to retreat." ”

"I know that means the destruction of the whole battalion, but if we can't delay time here, but our army is still a long snake formation, and they will be broken by the officers and soldiers one by one during the march, and the whole army will be destroyed." Li Laiheng shouted: "Horizontal and vertical is death, if you don't fight now, when will you fight?" ”

The input of another 200 invading troops made the central troops of the Ming army, which was already at a disadvantage, even more difficult, and the battle line was pushed back to the top of the mountain twice as quickly. At this time, Wu Zhong was observing the battlefield in the west, his face had been blackened by gunsmoke, his eyebrows were also full of dust, and the white cloth wrapped in Wu Zhong's left hand had already turned into a flower cloth, and blood was constantly oozing out of it - just now when he was observing the battlefield, a stray bullet hit Wu Zhong's left hand, knocking his little thumb and ring finger into dislocation, Wu Zhong bandaged it briefly on the battlefield, still staring at the north with wide eyes, thinking about how to use the last eight hundred infantry - where to throw them into the battlefield.

……

"The fight in the Evergreen Camp looks quite fierce there."

Gu Maitreya, the battalion officer of the Xuanfeng Battalion in the distance, said to Zhang Biao, the chief of staff beside him.

"Xu Ping's style," Zhang Biao snorted: "I have to steal the limelight every time, I don't care about the casualties of the soldiers at all, and I don't care about anything for the sake of grabbing merit." ”

The relationship between the Changqing Battalion and several other battalions in the New Army has not been very good, especially after the Battle of Shandong, the Changqing Battalion has always been indignant at blaming them for the defeat. Although the battalion officer Wu Zhong admitted that Xu Ping was responsible, the matter was still a sensitive topic, and he was unhappy many times because of it.

When the second time they sent troops to Shandong, the Changqing battalion was very active under the command of He Baodao, and repeatedly drove straight into attack Ji Huisi's troops, and they would look very proud after each victory, thinking that it was a powerful answer to those who looked down on the base camp. Because the Changqing battalion is full of this mood of washing away the snow and humiliation, their record in Shandong is even better than that of the firefighting and rock battalions. And the general opinion in the new army is that sooner or later, the arrogant style of the Evergreen Battalion will make them unlucky again.

However, this prophecy did not come true, and after seeing that the Evergreen Battalion refused to learn its lesson, and had no intention of changing its past mistakes, the other battalions' antipathy towards them also increased day by day.

"The Chizhuo Camp has already reported just now that there are thousands or even tens of thousands of thieves in the south, and Ziyu is too reckless." Gu Maitreya also looked very dissatisfied in his tone: "Now we don't care?" ”

"My lord, I think it's best for us to ignore it," Zhang Biao said: "The order given to us by the marshal is for us to prepare for a flank detour, and General Wu acts without authorization, we can't do this." ”

"Hmm." Gu Maitreya nodded, he had already seen the report on the Changqing Battalion in the Battle of Shandong before, and when he saw that the Changqing Battalion was fighting for merit and modifying the plan without authorization, and was sloppy with the reconnaissance in the rear, Gu Maitreya was also very angry. Seeing that the Evergreen Camp was like this today, Gu Maitreya was even more unhappy: "It seems that Shandong is not a problem for Xu Thief alone, the entire Evergreen Camp has a problem." ”

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