On the hilltop position

"Save some use for the shells, and wait until the enemy artillery shows up and then hit hard." Lieutenant Colonel Duan Qirui looked at the position filled with gunsmoke and explained to Major Wu Haishan, the commander of the artillery battalion;

"The 95-mm artillery shells can no longer be used, and they have to be saved for a critical time, and the 60-mm field guns have to be spared, and they can only shoot three bursts, and they can't shoot in a hurry, so it's too wasteful of shells, Hulala will finish it for me in a while, and I won't be able to live in the future?"

"Okay, we'll do whatever you say, Master." Major Wu Haishan raised his sleeve and wiped the black ash on his face, his face was filled with excitement, it was really cool to play these days.

"Well, the infantry's request for artillery fire, you don't have to worry about it, all the shelling must be ordered by me."

"Understand, this infantry brother will be miserable."

"There's no way, we have so much in our family, and we have to live a long life."

Duan Qirui said this a little coldly, waved his hand and left the artillery position and came to the front line headquarters in the rear.

The hilltop is on a slower slope.

The blue-black smoke was everywhere, the charred craters and the blasted barbed wire fences were everywhere, the burning broken wooden stakes were billowing green smoke, and the corpses under the hill were lying lying horizontally, the more dense they were at the foot of the mountain, a cruel and bloody scene after the war.

In the trenches at the foot of the mountain

The soldiers were busy reinforcing the trenches, transporting wounded soldiers through the communication trenches, replenishing weapons and ammunition to prepare for the continuation of the battle, and the positions were filled with a busy war atmosphere.

The hilltop elevation defense line was divided into three tiers;

The first layer, just at the foot of the hill, consisted of trenches and barbed wire, was the focus of fierce contention between the two sides, and in a day and a half of fierce fighting, it was occupied by the enemy twice, and then counterattacked by Duan Qirui's commando team.

The second level is on the mountainside, from 120 to 200 meters above sea level, several reinforced concrete pillboxes were built, connected by trenches, and a battalion of more than 440 soldiers was stationed, equipped with 7 heavy machine guns and 4 60 mm field guns, which were the main points of defense.

As long as the mountainside position can be held, the enemy will not be able to hold the position at the foot of the mountain.

The top layer is the hilltop position, which is the key point of defense of the entire Snow Mountain Town, all 8 95 mm Miss Australia guns, 4 60 mm field guns, and more than ten heavy machine guns (including captured) are deployed here, Duan Qirui's most valuable artillery battalion and the most elite more than 1,000 soldiers are all deployed here.

The top of the mountain is the top priority of the defense of Snow Mountain Town, which occupies the commanding heights of geography and can clearly overlook the entire Snow Mountain Town.

Therefore, Duan Qirui displayed more than 2,000 heavy soldiers here, all 8 95mm guns and most of the heavy firepower, and defended them to the death.

More than 1,000 soldiers were placed in the town of Snow Mountain, led by Duan Qirui's good brother, Major Zheng Tieniu, who resisted desperately based on the sturdy buildings in the town and repelled many enemy attacks.

The remaining 800-odd soldiers were reserves, half of which were elite cavalry of the Railway Cavalry, who were not of much use in this battle of attack and defense of the town, so they hid in the rear valley of the blockade of Snow Mountain Town and Mountain Heights as a general reserve.

"Report down, how many captives are left?"

"Report to the division, after many battles, there are still 376 prisoners left, and a small half of them are wounded, but it does not affect the battle."

"How's the mood?"

"In the past two days of fighting, the white captives have always stood in the way, and most of the casualties have been lost, and now the war-weariness is very strong, and I am afraid that a spark will detonate."

"What are you afraid of, give them 20 boxes of our Scotch whisky, and serve them with some beef jerky and flatbread, so that they can eat well and give us our lives."

"Master, we don't have much Scotch whisky."

"Don't be stingy, if you want these white captives to work hard, you have to pay something, now pass my order, transfer all of them to the front-line position at the foot of the mountain, quickly replace our people, and tell these white captives that as long as they can hold out until the evening, tomorrow all of them will withdraw to the second-line position for repair, remove the identity of the captive soldiers, enjoy the same treatment as our soldiers, and if necessary, we will give timely artillery support."

"Yes, sir."

After giving the order, Duan Qirui raised his binoculars to carefully observe the enemy's movements, and a solemn look appeared on his face.

A large number of Confederate soldiers occupied the railway line and the outer trenches, and there were many more troops in the rear, more than 10,000 men, and the black and endless sky seemed to be blue-gray locusts.

Since talking with Major Robert Janrik, codenamed "The Raven", Duan Qirui has become clearer about the current war situation between the north and the south, and a layer of worry has risen in his heart.

According to the battle plan of the Confederate Army;

Regardless of whether the Smith Corps can complete the combat mission as scheduled, and without affecting the plan of the Confederate Army's large forces to attack the Beilun front, three divisions (two infantry divisions and one cavalry division) reinforced by Victoria will arrive within a week, and the total strength of Sydney will reach more than 150,000 men, possibly 160,000 or more.

The presence of heavy troops in Sydney will put a lot of pressure on the city.

It was already 2:45 p.m. on October 11, and according to the "raven's" speculation, no less than October 20 at the latest, the war between the north and the south would break out on all fronts.

In other words, you have to stick to it for at least 9 days or more.

Fortunately, more than 900 white prisoners were used as cannon fodder, and the casualties of the defensive forces in these two days did not exceed 260, of which more than 90 Chinese soldiers were killed, and the total loss was about 650 people, causing heavy casualties to the enemy of more than 4,000 people.

Half of the glorious results of the first night were accounted for, and there was no such good thing at the bottom, and the lives of the Chinese soldiers had to be filled in.

War is so cruel and bloody that there is no room for mercy.

I don't know when

The mournful sound of Scottish bagpipes sounded again, and the attacking Confederate soldiers crawled out of the trenches with guns in their hands and marched forward in loose attacking formation, their faces full of tragic expressions of death.

The offensive began again......

It was a battalion-sized assault, with more than 400 Confederate soldiers marching through the blood-soaked wilderness with spears in hand.

The mournful sound of Scottish bagpipes echoes in the air, adding to the gloomy atmosphere.

When the attacking troops approached a distance of less than 200 meters, two covering heavy machine guns roared one after another, and the mud on the defensive positions was splashed and the grass and trees were broken.

At this time, the defensive position was silent and completely unmoved.

As the attacking troops approached a distance of 150 meters, the white soldiers of the Southern Army shouted almost unanimously and began to run and charge with rifles.

The number of heavy machine guns covering the negative side also quickly increased to five, and the whizzing bullets flew over the heads of the white soldiers, pouring densely on the position, and the smoke and dust were everywhere, making it almost impossible to raise one's head.

Right now

The heavy machine guns of the defenders on the mountainside also roared, and only two rounds of cross-fire swept down a large area of attacking white soldiers, and the white captives hiding in the trenches set up their rifles in unison, and then remembered the sound of bursting bean-like guns.

Accompanied by the sound of gunfire, a large area of cyan gunpowder smoke evaporated, and some soldiers who exposed their upper bodies were hit by heavy machine gun bullets, and their bones were broken in an instant, and a dazzling blood line was shot out, and the powerful impact force hit them backwards, and they fell into the trench and died silently.

Fierce firefights come and go, bullets scream across the battlefield, weaving together a scene of death.

The attacking white soldiers fell to the ground one after another, unresponsive and messy in the wind by the rain of bullets, and their bodies were cut into bloody holes one after another, and they fell heavily on the attacking hillside.

"Knock...... Knock knock ......"

The 60-mm field guns on the mountainside fired three shots, blowing up a frantic heavy machine gun position and throwing parts out 10 meters away.

After holding on for seven or eight minutes

The attacking Confederate soldiers retreated like a tidal wave, and another attack failed, leaving behind nearly a hundred more corpses and scrapping two heavy machine-gun positions, they found nothing.

Duan Qirui put down the binoculars and exhaled a deep breath of turbidity, this battle was fought well, the 60mm field guns carried out accurate fire, and the enemy's two heavy machine gun positions were eliminated in seven or eight consecutive shots, and the effect was remarkable.

Twenty shells for two heavy machine-gun positions, this deal was done.

He was reluctant to waste shells on those white soldiers, and ordered 60-mm field guns to focus on the enemy's heavy machine gun positions, and the effect was quite good.

These two days

The defenders knocked out more than 30 heavy machine guns of the enemy, but the Southern Union Army still had a steady stream of heavy machine guns, which made Duan Qirui feel helpless; After all, they are a regiment with deep pockets, and they can still get dozens of heavy machine guns, which is really incomparable.

The railway cavalry division belongs to the second-line armed forces, and the army general staff only gave a militia division the establishment and supported a small amount of equipment, and most of the equipment needs to be raised by the railway company itself, and the basic militia is organized into an army, so the combat effectiveness and equipment are weaker.

Duan Qirui, as the deputy captain of the railway cavalry, holds the post of deputy division commander with the rank of lieutenant colonel, which is very illustrative, and this is a second-line militia armed force that does not enter the stream.

The front-line militia is armed with more than a dozen militia divisions organized by the General Staff of the Army, and senior officers on active duty are dispatched to serve as commanders at all levels, and they are fully distributed with weapons and equipment, military tents, water bottles, socks, cowhide military boots, and everything from mules and horses carts to compasses and binoculars according to the standards of the active duty troops.

The only difference is probably the military salary, the militia is paid one-third of the military salary of the active army, and the heavy firepower equipment and food standards are also much worse.

But in any case, it is still a lot stronger than the railway cavalry division.

Most of Duan Qirui's troops didn't even have military uniforms, they wore all kinds of shoes and socks on their feet, and there were only more than 1,300 marching water bottles.

Fortunately, there was no shortage of weapons, and the Chinese militia had a high will to fight, and Duan Qirui also bought a lot of weapons and ammunition, especially a lot of artillery shells. These are all positive aspects.

The phone calls in the command headquarters came and went, and Duan Qirui said coldly; "Report battle losses?"

"Yes, division, according to the first-line report, 14 people were killed and 33 wounded in the battle, and the amount of weapons and ammunition consumed is not large, so I can continue to fight."

"Okay, let them strike hard at the enemy, I wait for the good news of victory."

"Yes, sir."

After finishing the order, Duan Qirui picked up the telescope and continued to observe the frontier battlefield, his face suddenly became gloomy;

At the end of the distant line of sight

At a distance of about ten kilometers, a large group of people appeared in a circle, and they carefully observed the back section of Qirui through the telescope to determine...... This is the enemy's reinforcements.