Chapter 61: Pursuing Cavalry
The 26th Regiment of the Fourth Cavalry Brigade quickly assembled, a force of nearly a thousand men, all mounted on war horses, waiting for their commander's orders.
The team leader's expression was complex, and since receiving the order from Maeda Toshiie to advance, he had been standing in a daze.
"Commander, shouldn't we launch a swift counterattack? With our heavy machine guns, we can definitely annihilate these Japanese cavalry." The commander of the 26th Regiment jumped off his horse and walked to the commander's side, suggesting.
Looking at his subordinates, the brigade commander's eyebrows furrowed.
"Your regiment, with two heavy machine gun companies, will pursue the Chinese cavalry units, but if you encounter a Chinese army counterattack, you must retreat quickly and not engage in any prolonged battle. If these troops are surrounded again, our fate will be to commit seppuku." The brigade commander spoke with deep concern.
The regimental commander looked at the brigade commander's gaze and nodded: "Brigade commander, please rest assured, I will have a measure of it."
In the 8th Division headquarters, Maeda Toshisada was loudly shouting.
Now Toshiaki Maeda is like a madman and has completely lost his demeanor as a commander.
"Bastards, why are the Chinese cavalry still attacking? Are the 4th Cavalry Brigade all useless?" Lieutenant General Toshio Maeda shouted loudly, but he was still unwilling to let his own cavalry regiment attack.
The chief of staff, Komura Kakutarō, had already come in and was standing silently beside him.
As a commander of the Imperial Guard who was born into nobility, he still had some noble pride.
Before long, the ground around them seemed to be shaking.
The sound of war horses gradually rose, and the entire division seemed to have been mobilized.
"Commander-in-Chief, the 4th Cavalry Brigade has begun to attack. It won't be long before the Chinese cavalry is settled." A staff officer walked in with a smile on his face and said.
Maeda Toshi smiled slightly and said a few words in Osaka dialect.
But for the cavalry regiment in front of the position, things were getting worse and worse.
Liang Fei seemed to have realized something and quickly gave the order to retreat.
"Damn it, this time we're going to lose face." Liang Fei looked at the Japanese army's position in the distance and cursed with discontent.
The people around lowered their heads and moved forward in silence.
"Commander, the Japanese cavalry is coming from behind!" A lieutenant rushed to Liang Fei's side and reported.
Li Feng took a look at the back, a pitch-black piece, and quickly gave orders: "Withdraw while fighting, lure them to the second brigade's position, and work with the second brigade to wipe them out. As long as there are 500 war horses, all brothers in the cavalry regiment will be promoted one level."
Upon hearing Liang Fei's order, "Officer promotion by one level for four words" was more effective than any morale-boosting words.
The cavalrymen used their own weapons and quickly fired them up.
Distant Japanese cavalrymen fell to the ground one by one.
The Japanese cavalrymen took out their own weapons and started shooting.
The two sides began to exchange fire, but it was clear that the cavalry regiment's shooting level gradually fell short.
It's not that the cavalry regiment's shooting level is poor, but they have to turn back to shoot, so the hit rate can't be very high.
As both sides exchanged fire, the Japanese cavalry brigade was unwittingly drawn in by the cavalry regiment.
Yang Junran on the battlefield heard the sound of gunfire and quickly ordered the second brigade to prepare for battle.
The ten heavy machine guns of the Machine Gun Battalion were all deployed on the front line.
The ten mountain guns were deployed on several high grounds.
The Japanese army also gradually discovered that something was wrong and immediately stopped pursuing.
"Colonel, I think these Chinese cavalry are nothing to be afraid of. Why don't we pursue and annihilate them?" said the deputy commander of the 26th Cavalry Regiment, looking at the regimental commander beside him.
The battalion commander hesitated for a moment and looked at the sixteen heavy machine guns behind him.
These were the weapons of the 25th and 26th Machine Gun Battalions, but at this time the 25th Battalion no longer existed.
"Order the troops to pursue and annihilate this group of Chinese cavalry, dispatch scouting parties to reconnoiter the surroundings. If encountering resistance from Chinese troops, retreat quickly." The regimental commander issued the order swiftly.
As ordered by the commander of the regiment, small detachments were deployed around the cavalry of the entire Japanese army regiment, keeping a distance from the main force and taking on the task of covering.
The fifty war horses in front galloped swiftly, undertaking the mission of a search party.
Liáng Fěi saw the Japanese cavalry pursuing them and was overjoyed.
Although he had little contact with war horses, after being trained by the teaching team, he also had a certain understanding of war horses.
"These devils have at least a thousand war horses, brothers, take aim and don't shoot the horses. This time our cavalry regiment will definitely be expanded into a cavalry brigade." Liang Fei laughed loudly as he relayed the order.
The rest of the cavalry naturally knew the number of war horses behind them, after all, they were all people who had mixed with horses for nearly half their lives.
The second battalion's position in the distance was getting closer and closer, and Liang Fei quickly ordered the troops to disperse.
Each having two regiments of cavalry, swiftly flanking around the Second Brigade's position from left and right.
Yang Junran listened to the sound of cavalry in the distance and did not give the order to fire.
The search party continued to pursue the cavalry regiment, but after seeing the cavalry regiment detour, they hesitated.
"Hakka, they're trying to scatter us, keep pressing forward!" A Japanese army lieutenant shouted loudly, waving his military sword.
Fifty war horses rushed quickly towards the position of the Second Brigade.
Yang Junran saw the war horses getting closer and closer, and quickly gave the order to fire.
As Yang Junran's formal shooting with a rifle in his hand, the light and heavy machine guns around him began to fire.
Machine gun flames appeared one after another, and bullets poured down on the Japanese army like rain.
The second echelon had twelve light machine guns and twenty-four heavy machine guns, which formed an impenetrable wall of firepower.
The war horse slowly fell to the ground, and the cavalry had been beaten into a sieve.
The wounded war horse kept wailing, telling its own tragic fate.
The commander of the cavalry regiment behind heard the sound of machine guns in front and quickly gave a withdrawal order without any hesitation.
A cavalry unit of over a thousand men quickly began running towards the Japanese army's position.
Leung Fei's cavalry had already begun their attack.
This time it's the other way around, the Japanese cavalry who were originally pursuing the counter-attacking cavalry regiment are now the ones fleeing, and the fleeing cavalry regiment has become the pursuers.
The cavalrymen kept firing, and one by one, Japanese cavalrymen fell to the ground, while their war horses wandered around.
Yang Junran on the battlefield looked at the dozen or so war horses still standing in front of him, then looked around at the corpses of the war horses.
"Alright, let's cook and eat the horse meat." Yang Junran pointed at the corpse of the warhorse and said to Qin Litian who was following behind him.
Qin Litian called over a few soldiers and had them transport the dead war horse to the back of the formation.
The cooks in the kitchen were quickly busy, these warriors had been eating dry rations for a whole day.
Chunks of horse meat were dropped into the large pot, while the cooks carefully covered the firelight, fearing a Japanese artillery attack.
Liáng Fěi's cavalry regiment pursued all the way to the front of the position, only then did they stop their pursuit and start collecting the war horses and weapons left behind by the Japanese army on the road.
The most unfortunate thing was that the Japanese army retreated too quickly and left all sixteen heavy machine guns on the road.
Liang Fei returned to the camp with a pleased smile, carrying the spoils of war he had obtained.
The warriors of the second expedition had already begun eating horse meat in shifts.
The warriors were eating horse meat with big mouths, and they almost laughed their mouths crooked.
Inside the second trip's travel department.
Yang Junran looked at the map and said to Liang Fei, who had just sat down: "The 16 heavy machine guns you captured will be temporarily assigned to the machine gun battalion of the Second Brigade. After the battle is over, I'll make sure to replenish your regiment with some light and heavy machine guns and artillery."
Liang Fei nodded and stood up saying: "Alright, Master will take care of the arrangements."
Yang Junran smiled and sat down in his chair, looking at the food on the table that had not been touched yet. Everyone's mouth was watering.
"Let's eat first." Yang Junran said with a smile.
On the Japanese army's position, there were Japanese troops on high alert everywhere.
The expression on Maeda Toshiyasu's face inside the 8th Division headquarters was not very good.
His own attack plan was almost disrupted, which made Toshiyori Maeda somewhat irritated.
"Commander of the Division, the cavalry unit that pursued the Chinese cavalry has returned. It seems they have suffered some casualties." Staff Officer Kobayashi Kakutarō came over and reported.
Maeda Toshiie's face wrinkled again, his eyes fixed tightly on the map.
The commander of the 4th Cavalry Brigade of the Japanese army nearby looked even more unpleasant.
This time's raid lost another cavalry squadron and more importantly, two machine gun companies' heavy machine guns were all given to the Chinese troops.
Looking at the expression of the team leader, the brigade commander slapped the team leader several times.
The team leader was beaten and then stood up straight and shouted.
"Baga, why are you pursuing their troops? Didn't I tell you that after encountering the Chinese troops' blocking, quickly withdraw?" The division commander loudly scolded, not giving the regimental commander a chance to explain.
As soon as the regimental commander opens his mouth, he will be greeted with a slap in the face by the brigade commander.
Looking at the team leader's already red and swollen face, the brigade commander's anger dissipated somewhat.
"Get out and think about it carefully, how we have fallen to this state." the tour leader shouted loudly.
"Hi." The squadron leader saluted and walked out towards the outside.
After seeing the team leader leave, the brigade commander sat quietly in his chair, carefully thinking about his two failures.
The Japanese army's positions outside were all lit up with torches, trying to resist the Chinese cavalry's raid.
But they seem to have forgotten that at this moment, the Chinese troops have a considerable number of artillery.
