In the Gobi Desert, the temperature is already very low at night in autumn.

At this moment.

A marching procession with torches advanced north in the darkness of night.

Most of this team were the uniforms of the Russian shooting corps in medium gray cotton clothes, and there were also Cossack cavalrymen dressed like Santa Claus, who were marching away in the moonlight.

Although it is now autumn, the temperature difference between day and night on the desert prairie is still very large, and the sun is very hot at noon, so it is usually necessary to avoid trimming.

In order to buy more time.

Russian commanders Lepnin and Mikhail scheduled their rest at noon, choosing to march at night, early in the morning, and in the evening.

Meanwhile.

The scouts sent by the Western Capital Division of the Great Ming Expedition have also caught up with this huge Siberian garrison of the Russian army.

"This rakshasa ghost is really fast enough, he can run hundreds of miles every day, and he will run back to Irkutsk in a few days!"

Lu Fuhai, a veteran who finally became an officer, sat on horseback, holding the reins in his right hand and muttering to himself while stuffing naan into his mouth with his left hand.

As a veteran who joined the army during the Battle of Nanxiongzhou.

A Hakka hunter from Nanxiongzhou County, Shaozhou Prefecture, Guangdong, was skillfully controlling a war horse at this time, staring at a steel helmet, and wrapping his face with gauze to resist the yellow sand in the sky.

Take a bite of naan.

I don't know if I eat more sand or more bread

"Bah, Bah, Bah"

Spit out a mouthful of yellow sand.

Lu Fuhai began to regret coming to this hellish place.

He is a Hakka guy who has been hunting in the mountains of Lingnan since he was a child.

I am accustomed to eating glutinous rice balls, stuffed tofu, landscape fish, yellow stewed duck, Meiling goose, and Hakka rice wine.

And because the Western Capital Division had to fight in the desert Gobi, it was equipped with only flour, beef, and mutton jerky.

At first, you can eat fresh, but after eating too much, you will feel that it is tasteless.

Moreover, this desert Gobi is full of yellow sand and a huge temperature difference.

It's really not a place to raise people.

I really don't know what the emperor thinks, what's so good about this kind of broken place? And send a large army to fight.

It's better to occupy all the Nanyang, I heard that most of the rice and grain in the Ming Dynasty now come from Nanyang. A place that can produce so much rice is a good place.

But it can't be helped.

Whoever made him born with a bad test.

I didn't reach the minimum passing mark several times in the exam, and I couldn't get an officer.

In the end, it was his old superior, Luo Dingshan, who was the guarantor, and transferred him to the Zhengxi Division, which was in urgent need of officers, as a platoon commander, and when he made meritorious contributions, he could be transferred back to the mainland as a company commander or battalion commander.

When the time comes, he will retire, how can he get a knighthood with his merits.

At that time, his family can be regarded as developed.

But now it seems that this errand of the Western Capital Division is not easy to do.

"Platoon commander, I think the Rakshasa ghost is really going to retract, and he hasn't sent cavalry to drive us away in the past few days, so let us hang like this."

A cavalryman with a gray beard who had once been a soldier of Qianlong's Baoyi Army came to Lu Fuhai's side and said with a smile.

"They did it on purpose." Lu Fuhai has been a soldier for many years, and he still has some battlefield experience.

"You're saying the Rakshasa is trying to lure us in?"

"Hehe, since that's the case, they must want to chase our people, and when our horses get tired of running, they will turn back to fight!" Lu Fuhai smiled, "But it's none of our business, we just have to follow, these Rakshasa ghosts all look like ghosts, looking fierce, in fact, that's the same thing, a shot is also a hole, hiding every day and not daring to fight, a few dicks, if they go back to the king of Irkuzik, this battle will not be fought for a year or two, they have to hurry up and take care of them, Ya Laozi wants to go back to Nanxiong's hometown!" ”

As he spoke, Lu Fuhai commanded loudly.

"Beat all the torches, since the Rakshasa ghost doesn't mind letting us follow, then we won't be sneaky! We're big soldiers, I'm afraid of a dog's egg Cossack! ”

The identity of the Great Tomorrow Soldier may really give these soldiers who take the original Manchurian and Mongolian Eight Banners as their main source of courage.

Immediately, torches were lit one after another, and they swaggered and followed the Russian brigade one or two hundred meters away, monitoring them as they went north.

"Brigade Commander! The Russian army is stationed in Kyakhta in front, less than fifty miles from here! ”

Lu Fuhai stood next to Chen Liansheng and raised his hand to salute.

Then again

When Chen Liansheng escaped from the Green Camp, Lu Fuhai caught him.

Unexpected.

Now one of the two has graduated from the military academy and worships the brigade commander.

And Lu Fuhai finally became an official, although he was only a small platoon leader.

Chen Liansheng did not put the brigade commander's score in front of Lu Fuhai.

Don't look at Lu Fuhai's low official position, but he has friendships with many big people.

For example, Zeng Ada, the brigade commander of the 35th Brigade, and Xingluo Dingshan, the Ming general who is now a major general

"Finally caught up! Old Lu, how many days have they rested? ”

"It's been two days, Kyakhta has abundant water and grass, and the war horses of the Rakshasa ghosts have spread out and eaten the pasture for two days, and they have cultivated quite well, much better than our horses." Lu Fuhai looked at the panting war horse behind Chen Liansheng, and his brows couldn't help frowning.

These horses.

It's already gone.

Running away means that these horses are basically no longer usable as war horses.

It can only be killed, as military rations.

Chen Liansheng also saw Lu Fuhai's expression, and couldn't help laughing: "Old Lu, what's wrong?" We can't win without cavalry? ”

Lu Fuhai shook his head and said, "Not really, it's just. How can you pursue without cavalry, and how can you expand the results of the battle? ”

Chen Liansheng looked up at the sky.

"That's right, so this battle can't be fought conventionally, and it's not just us who want to fight this battle, why don't the Rakshasa ghosts want to fight! If they really don't want to fight, it would be good to go back to Irkuzk. ”

"It looks like this time it's really going to be fought! It's mostly a night attack! ”

Fukangan said.

This Fu Dashuai made a mistake in judgment last time.

This time the judgment was made again.

I don't know if I will make another mistake.

Chen Liansheng muttered in his heart.

However, he actually agrees with Fukangan's judgment.

If he had been the commander of the Russian army, he would not have missed the night.

Because the Ming army came from afar, the soldiers were sleepy and the horses were lacking, and the war horses could not fight after running for so many days, they had to dismount and fight, and they had no time to build any fortifications, which was the weakest time.

And the Russian army repaired for two days, and there were also two regiments of cavalry, and the Russian shooting corps of that division was also a horse infantry with horses for everyone.

There are horses and no horses.

Isn't it obvious who can pass the trial, who can have the upper hand?

Fu Dashuai finally got it right once.

Lepnin stood on the horse board with a telescope and observed the Ming army brigade catching up, put down the binoculars and said: "Their horses are useless, and now they are all infantry!" ”

Infantry isn't easy to deal with, but it's much safer to deal with - without horses, it's hard to extend your gains even if you win.

The Russian army, on the other hand, can afford to be defeated, and they can retreat at any time with the advantage of cavalry.

Mikhail also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, in theory, this battle was indeed a big advantage for the Russian army.

"Let's send five hundred cavalry to harass them first!"

Mikhail said.

Military order.

Five thousand Cossack cavalry sprang into action.

However, when they appeared, the Ming army was also ready, and grain trucks were placed in the front, fixed and tamped with rammed earth and sandbags, forming a circle.

At the same time, artillery positions were arranged.

As a result, these Cossacks did not dare to approach.

They circled around the Ming army's chariot formation, and then fired harassing two miles away.

At such a distance, the projectile fired from the smoothbore gun was not at all threatening.

The Ming troops in the car formation did not react, except for some sentries, most of the officers and soldiers were either eating or sleeping.

There was simply no one to return fire at such a distance.

"Are these people really the remnants of the Qing army?"

Lepnin frowned.

Such a performance.

In the European battlefield, it must be regarded as elite.

These 5,000 Ming troops.

Not easy to deal with!

(End of chapter)