A little after 11 a.m

The attacking unknown unit appeared on the eastern outskirts of the town of Saint-Malo, and the shadowy procession was approached, with dozens of cavalry in front, followed by a long queue of rifles, escorting about 70 wagons and towing 12 field guns.

If I guessed correctly, these wagons were loaded with weapons and ammunition, spare guns, some tents and cooking utensils, and of course wagons full of shells and gunpowder, and were extremely well prepared for battle.

On the eastern outskirts of the town of Saint-Malo, Major August von Bryan, a German soldier who had been waiting for a long time, led his 173 soldiers to cross the small stone bridge with orderly steps for about a few tens of meters, and then formed a horizontal queue.

There are two rows, and each platoon has more than 86 soldiers.

Major Augst von Bryan and Lieutenant Hans, the company commander, stood side by side, waiting for the other to meet them.

The attacking French army stopped less than 1,000 meters away, and after several horseback commanders discussed with each other, several of them immediately galloped backwards, faintly hearing the slogan "Prepare for battle".

Soon, the French infantry was moved up and spread out laterally towards the Germans. This is an infantry battalion of about 400 people, with more than 140 people in each platoon after unfolding, a total of three platoons.

At the command of the commander, the French soldiers put down their rifles on their shoulders and began to pull out paper shells and reload, apparently preparing for the rhythm of battle.

And this move

The face of Major Augst von Bryan of the German army turned pale with anger, and he bit his lip and ordered in a loud voice; "All the soldiers put their guns down on their shoulders and inspect their guns. Reload your bullets and prepare for battle. ”

At this time, it is too late to say that he regrets something, and he must stubbornly withstand this round of attacks by the French army, and then talk about retreat.

The convoys, hidden in the main position on the left side of the rear, were already ready, loaded with bullets, waiting for the enemy to step into the intertwined network of machine-gun and rifle fire.

Sheriff Ma Wenyong was also on the front line, standing at the window of a two-story building, carefully observing the enemy's formation with a telescope. When he found out that he had no intention of using artillery, he couldn't help but be overjoyed.

He guessed in his heart;

Perhaps it was the German soldiers who welcomed them out to give the enemy the illusion that the main defensive forces of the port of Saint-Malo were here.

How could a mere force of more than 170 people be able to stop an army of more than 2,000 people?

The French commander was also very proud, and sent only one battalion of soldiers to meet the battle, that is, a little more than twice the strength, to crush the Germans from the front.

As for the heavy firepower of artillery, it is completely unnecessary.

Ma Wenyong did not believe that the French attacked this port, would they not know the strength of the Chinese escort of more than 600 people?

With such a big support, could it be that he also made the mistake of pride?

It seems that the heroic and warlike reputation of the Tang Empire has been invisibly weakened a lot after being separated by an Atlantic Ocean, and it is so unbearable in the eyes of the French?

And this ...... Maybe it's a good opportunity?

Come to think of it

Ma Wenyong immediately ordered in a serious tone; "Tell me my orders, and all the guards will hide them for me, and I will not be allowed to show my head. If anyone reveals the target, I will kill him with my own hands, including the right flank positions and reserves, all hidden, ready to surprise these Frenchmen. ”

"Yes, sir."

The herald quickly went to convey the order, and Ma Wenyong continued to pick up the monoculars and began to carefully observe the movements of the enemy troops.

Look at it from afar

The French commander on his horse was also observing the town with a telescope, but after a few minutes of watching it, he put it down and talked with the officers around him talking and laughing, as if he was victorious.

Soon, the war drums behind the French army sounded, a nine-member military band, playing a marching song for the attacking French army.

The French commander, who was standing on the far right side of the horizontal queue, drew his bright command knife and gave a loud order to "advance", and the long horizontal queue of the French army began to move.

After two or three minutes

The French offensive line was close to a distance of 500 meters, and it still maintained a strict horizontal infantry formation, and from this point of view, it was a well-trained veteran.

It is impossible for a recruit to walk so neatly, and the fear and hesitation of facing death after a few hundred meters will make the horizontal queue already turn into a zigzag snake, and it will never be so calm and calm.

The Germans were also veterans of war, and under the command of Major Augst von Bryan, the German soldiers in the front row, who had finished loading, squatted down and the soldiers in the back row, adopting the typical line infantry two-stage shooting method.

Seeing that the attacking French soldiers were getting closer and closer, from 500 meters to 400 meters, and from 400 meters to 350 meters, Major Augst von Bryan waved his saber and ordered; "1st platoon, all fire!"

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

The dense platoon of guns rang out, and the thick gray and white gunpowder smoke slowly rose like a curved flying snake, and the volley guns fired by the Germans rushed towards the French column like flying locusts, instantly shooting down more than a dozen attacking soldiers, and blood splattered out.

The battered French column hesitated only slightly, and then continued to advance firmly.

The vacant seats that appeared in the front row, and the French troops in the back row silently advanced forward to make up for it, enduring the casualties and continuing to advance.

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

After the second round of firing platoons, the attacking French soldiers fell again by more than 20 people, but they did not stop their advance and shortened the distance to about 300 meters.

At this time

The German soldiers who preempted the attack had already reloaded their bullets and raised their rifles in unison, and the French commander gave a loud order: "All stop advancing, raise your guns flat, and get ready...... Launch! ”

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

Soldiers on both sides fired at the same time, almost indistinguishably from front to back, and the dense bullets shuttled back and forth, making a creepy muffled sound of "poof, puff, puff", and soldiers on both sides fell to the ground and died.

Relatively

Because the French had a wider platoon, the number of bullets fired at the same time was more dense, and the damage inflicted on the German soldiers was greater.

The first round of fire alone hit nearly 30 German soldiers, and a large chunk of the German soldiers' platoon collapsed.

Followed by...... The second and third rounds of shooting followed.

After the thick smoke of gunpowder

The Germans at the forefront had already suffered nearly half of the casualties, at least seventy or eighty of them were wounded, including the overly conceited Major Augst von Brian, who died under the heavy rain of bullets from the French.

Lieutenant Hans, who was standing beside him, was wounded in the shoulder, and seeing that the place was overwhelming, he had to wave the order, "Retreat, quickly retreat over the small stone bridge." ”

The remaining German soldiers, less than 100 people, retreated in confusion, and some soldiers still supported their wounded comrades and stumbled towards the direction of the small stone bridge.

How proud I was when I walked with my head held high, and how embarrassed I am now.

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

The experienced French soldiers would not give up this opportunity to beat the water dogs, and continued to fire three rounds of alternating fire, knocking down about forty or fifty of the retreating German soldiers again, and then continued to reload unhurriedly.

Under a series of orders from the commander, the attacking French soldiers shouldered their guns and continued to advance with proud steps.

The head-on defeat of the old enemy Germans made the French soldiers who had been suppressed for a long time particularly excited, and bursts of cheers could be heard from afar.

The French commanders who were standing behind to watch the battle were all smiling, and with a wave of their hands, they ordered the follow-up troops to continue to advance, and followed closely behind the attacking French troops, and swaggered over in a marching column.

There were 174 German officers and soldiers who strode across the small stone bridge, and only 46 were left who retreated in embarrassment, and the rest were either killed or fell to the ground groaning in pain, and basically had no chance of survival.

The French soldiers were ruthless, and they would not be soft on their compatriots, and even less on the Germans.

Either you don't do it, or you want to do it.

Due to the limitations of the small stone bridge, the attacking French soldiers could not maintain a horizontal line, and when they approached a distance of about 100 meters to the small stone bridge, the French commander issued an order to "dissolve the horizontal column".

The French soldiers rushed up in a swarm, ferociously replenishing their swords and guns at the German officers and soldiers who fell to the ground on the side of the small stone bridge, and then rushed up with a tide of snow-bright bayonets......

in their eyes

The retreating German soldiers had already run away across the small stone bridge, and about forty German soldiers retreated to the town in disarray, and the French soldiers behind couldn't help but speed up their pace to catch up, and they also trotted closely.

When most of the more than 350 French soldiers passed through the small stone bridge, Ma Wenyong waved his hand fiercely; "Hit, hit me hard."

Hiding in the house, the guards behind the walls came out one after another, as well as the rags and felt covering the Colt heavy machine guns, which were also ripped off, and the muzzles of the black holes were aimed at the swarming French soldiers.

The nearest distance is only a dozen meters, and it can almost be said that it is a close encounter.

In the frightened eyes of these French soldiers, three heavy machine guns were the first to fire "da-da-da...... Da da ......", and then more than 100 rifles also opened fire intensively, drowning these French soldiers in a dense net of fire.

"Dada...... Da Da ......"

The three heavy machine guns in the town, the three heavy machine guns in the main position on the right all opened fire frantically, and there were bursts of crisp rifle sounds in the middle, and after five or six minutes of intensive fire, Ma Wenyong shouted an order "Cease fire, all stop shooting......

The smoke cleared

The French infantry battalion that had rashly passed through the small stone bridge had been completely wiped out, and the corpses were lying all over the ground, and the strong smell of blood was choking, and it was simply a bloody slaughter field.

The French commander in the rear was already stunned, and after seeing that his attacking troops were all annihilated, his face twitched violently a few times, and he shouted heartbreakingly;

"Oh God! Quickly drag our artillery out, go, go...... I'm going to smash these vile enemies with artillery fire and let them die in fire and fear, these damned Germans......"

At this time, he had not yet figured out who the real enemy he was facing?

(End of chapter)