Before the war

Duan Qirui turned around and instructed the herald under him; "The thugs entrenched in the town of Illawarra are stubborn and trying to fight by force, the outbreak of fighting is inevitable, now I order you to return immediately, gather all the reinforcements and militia to support immediately, and most importantly, bring more shells."

"Yes, sir." The herald immediately got on his horse and galloped off into the distance.

Since the cavalry team is the vanguard of the southward exploration, the team headquarters naturally cannot be placed in the rear, but has been moved to the outskirts of Wollongong, which is more than 20 kilometers away from here.

After explaining the request for reinforcements, Duan Qirui beckoned Sergeant Myers and a dozen of his subordinates in exchange for him, and commanded with a solemn expression; "The town has launched a brazen attack, which can be defined as a malicious riot, but I believe that there are still many innocent people in the town who have been held hostage, so please come forward and shout, as long as you avoid the main road out of the town, the residents of the town who are not willing to get involved in the war can leave safely, including the thugs who are willing to lay down their arms, they have half an hour to leave, beyond this time we will launch an attack, when the jade will be burned, it is not to say that it is self-evident."

"Okay, the police will do their best to cooperate."

"Then go and shout, and at the same time take care to hide and avoid being hurt by the rioters' bullets."

"Thank you, sir."

Sergeant Myers led his men to hide behind a rock not far from the entrance of the town, and began to persuade them with brass horns in their hands, and their words were met with a fierce fire, and the hot bullets hit the rocks and exploded countless stone chips, as well as the arrogant cursing of the town's mobs.

The persuasion could not be said to be fruitless, and many women and children came out one after another from several other intersections in the town, carrying packages on their backs and heavy bags in their hands, and leaving the town with their children helping the old man with a frightened expression.

Half an hour or so

Six or seven hundred old and weak women and children came out of the town one after another, but there were very few young men, which was a very unusual thing for a town with a population of more than 3,000 people.

This means that almost all the men in the prime of life have stayed in the town, and only a few of them are ready to resist to the end, and most of them have stayed for one reason or another, some because of their fathers and brothers, some because they want to keep care of the household, some who can't wipe their children, and some who are simply stupid and bold to see the excitement.

As it turned out, these Irish were quite grouped together in the face of outside aggression.

Sadly, they don't realize that from this moment on, all those who remain in the town will be targeted with severe blows, without exception.

"Order the heavy machine gun crew to block all roads out of town, and the third squad is tasked with strangling the remaining fleeing enemy so that no one is caught."

Duan Qirui gave the order with a stern expression, this time he brought a total of 4 heavy machine guns, which was enough to block all the exits of the town, and the rest was to catch turtles in the urn.

In addition, there were three 60-mm field guns, all of which were gathered on the gun positions near the main road into the town, only more than 800 meters away from the barricades at the entrance of the town.

"Now I order the offensive operation to begin, artillery fire!"

Order

Three 60-mm field ......guns, which had been prepared for a long time, fired three shells, one of which exploded on the dirt road not far from the barricade, blowing up a large cloud of dust.

The blast hit the row house next to the barricade, and the blasted stone debris scattered, sweeping down a large area of the thugs hiding behind the barricade, and screaming loudly.

There was also a shot in the middle of the barricade, and in the light of the fire and the sound of violent explosions, the barricade exploded a large gap half a man high, and seven or eight gangsters fell like wheat in the back.

Needless to say, the two field guns that had missed the shot, adjusted their firing slightly, and then roared one after another, forming a chorus with the other cannon, pouring more than 20 shells in less than a minute, completely turning the barricade into a flesh mill.

The 60-odd thugs gathered here were either dead or wounded, their bodies strewn across the rubble and rubble, the smell of blood in the smoke and dust, and the stumps and broken arms everywhere.

"The first team is on offense, and the second team is on guard."

Under Duan Qirui's order, the first team of more than 80 dragoons cautiously drove forward with rifles, and the field artillery group behind them also attacked, slowly approaching the town entrance about 150 meters away, and then the dragoons stopped under the command of the officer, holding spears and half-squatting on both sides of the road, waiting for the artillery group to continue to exert their might.

The artillery group also approached about 200 meters from the entrance of the town, readjusted the artillery, and then aimed at the window on the second floor of the terraced house, and "to......m" the first cannon, such a close distance is simply a bayonet on the cannon, and there is no reason to miss it at all.

I saw that the shells hit the solid walls of the row houses, and in the violent explosion, a large hole was blown open, and the smoke and fire were filled, and the fragments of limbs and debris exploded everywhere.

A few ill-intentioned thugs died in the shelling, and they didn't understand what was going on until they died.

The unhurried bombardment of the 60-mm field guns almost bombarded the second floor of this terraced house, and the thugs hiding inside were killed and wounded in the debris that burst out in all directions, and the sturdy terraced house was bombarded and leaked everywhere, turning it into a bloody slaughtering field.

The long-awaited 1st Dragoon quickly entered the town to occupy the terraced houses, and then sporadic gunfire rang out to replenish the seriously wounded thugs and consolidate the existing position.

At this time, fierce gunfire rang out in several places in the town, which was the stubborn resistance of the thugs hiding in the shadows, and sure enough, they were all die-hards, and they did not cry when they saw the coffin.

Although these bullets were lively, they were actually not very effective.

The dragoons took up their strong, terraced houses to fire at the mobs, and soon the field guns that advanced into the town were helping to blow up the fire points of the mob hiding in the shadows, scattering stumps and debris all over the ground, causing heavy casualties.

Duan Qirui looked at the time calmly, it had been more than half an hour since the battle was launched, and about one hundred and seventy or eighty thugs had been annihilated, and the first and second teams had all entered the townhouse area one after another, relying on the townhouses to slowly but firmly infiltrate the town.

It's almost 2:00 p.m. now, and reinforcements should arrive soon.

At present, the casualties on the side are about 20, of which less than six were killed, and three soldiers were killed by the cold guns of the mob at the entrance of the town, which is still within acceptable limits.

The previously laid out offensive strategy turned out to be effective.

Under the leadership of the grassroots officers, they first washed it with artillery fire, and then the infantry followed up to remove these cockroaches hiding in the shadows one by one, which seemed to have a good effect, but it cost some shells.

After half an hour of fighting, more than 70 shells had been fired, and it was time to stabilize it.

This is still used again and again, if it is really let go to fight, it is not enough to add a 0 after 70 shells.

The cavalry team he led carried a total of 120 shells, and seeing that reinforcements were about to arrive, he had to leave some behind.

When he was studying at the Whampoa Army Military Academy, the instructors repeatedly stressed that they should leave some reserves and rear guards behind at all times to deal with the most difficult emergencies.

This kind of cautious combat is very much in line with Duan Qirui's cautious style, and now the first team of soldiers occupies a few row houses on the left side of the front, and the soldiers of the second team occupy several row houses on the right side of the front, forming a pattern of advancing head to head.

Duan Qirui's headquarters had already moved forward to the row house on the edge of the town, and in addition to the guards and heralds, there were more than a dozen policemen and more than a dozen people from the Hongshan Iron and Steel Complex, all of which added up to more than 30 people, who could be put in as the last reserve when necessary.

There were still more than 80 third cavalry members outside the town, and they blocked all roads out of the town with four heavy machine guns.

As the brutal fighting progressed, some of the town's people tried to break through the blockade and escape, and now all of them were corpses lying on the road, warning all the thugs who were lucky; The only way out is to lay down your arms and surrender.

It turns out;

Fighting is not useful because of the number of people, nor is it bragging about being able to defeat the enemy, no matter how large the number of loose sand is, it is still loose sand, and it can never be turned into reinforced concrete.

The offensive was temporarily suspended

This gave the battered thugs a rare respite, and another barricade in front of them blocked the way, and an unknown number of thugs were hiding in the streets behind the barricades, and there seemed to be quite a few of them.

Duan Qirui did not rush to attack, he calmly watched the soldiers in the rear deliver ammunition to the front, and then raised the binoculars to look in the direction of Wulongong, with a hint of anticipation.

Now that the situation is under control, as long as reinforcements arrive and give the other side a ruthless blow, the collapse of these rabbles is inevitable.

According to the information previously obtained;

There are no more than 20 percent of the die-hard whites in Illawarra, about five or six hundred, and now nearly 200 thugs have been eliminated, and the rest will not last long under the thunder.

Even if a few rioters from the coal mines had joined, there would not have been many of them.

The advantage of time is on his side, so Duan Qirui is not in a hurry, steady and steady, step by step is the king.

"Ordered the 1st and 2nd teams, ordering them to repair their positions, hold on to the spot, and wait for reinforcements to arrive."

"Yes, sir."

The herald straightened his waist and saluted, then turned and ran quickly out, and when he passed through the empty street, he suddenly heard the sound of a heavy machine gun "Da ......", like a Vulcan whip to splash the dirt on the surrounding road in all directions, the herald shook a few times in the rain of bullets, and then fell down the street like a rag doll, bleeding for a long time.

The sudden sound of the heavy machine gun made Duan Qirui change color, he didn't expect the enemy to hide such a big killing weapon, and he only used it now.

"Dada...... Dadada......"

The two heavy machine guns fired frantically, and the dense bullet pumping made countless shallow craters on the row houses, leaving one after another shocking huge white spots, and the stone chips were flying, and the soldiers could not raise their heads, and the artillery did not dare to show their heads to face them.

That's when it happened

A large crowd of thugs rushed out from the rear of the street with guns in hand, looked at the black oppression, and prepared to wrap all the cavalry soldiers who had entered the town with dumplings with a strong counterattack, and then extinguish the fire one by one by virtue of the advantage of numbers.

The situation on the battlefield is changing extremely quickly, and the side that is sure to win will face an extremely dangerous situation in an instant, and if it is not done well, the whole army will be annihilated.