Chapter 58: The Army Arrives at Maqin

  "Boom! Boom!" Shell after shell exploded in the midst of the rapidly charging cavalry column, the intense shockwave sent the cavalrymen flying high, and the horizontally flying shrapnel ruthlessly shot them down.

  When the artillery battalion of the Western Sichuan Army deployed 12 Type-82 infantry guns against Gu Hongzhang and his confidants, their fate was sealed. Shell after shell tore through their bodies, sending them into the arms of Allah.

  "Boom!" A shell exploded beside Gu Hongqiang, and he felt himself being thrown into the air. His warhorse had already fallen to the ground with a mournful cry. With a thud, he crashed to the ground, feeling a sharp pain in his chest, only to see blood gushing out of his chest like a fountain. He wanted to scream, but found that his throat seemed to be blocked, unable to make any sound, and could only helplessly stare at the blue sky until his eyes lost their luster.

  Under the superior firepower of the Kham troops, the 6 cavalry regiments that marched south from Maqin to support Yushu suffered heavy casualties. Anyone who tried to resist was ruthlessly shot and killed. The remaining survivors hugged their heads and trembled with fear on the ground.

  Five minutes later, the gunfire from the Sichuan army ceased. After the smoke cleared, the entire valley of Niuxin Gou had turned into a hellish scene. Everywhere were scattered limbs and torsos, with crimson blood flowing through the valley, gathering into small streams. Ownerless war horses either wandered aimlessly or stood mournfully before their masters who had died early on.

  "The battle is over, we have won a complete victory. However, the consumption of ammunition seems to be a bit large!" Cai Yun put down the binoculars in his hand and said with some disappointment, as if he thought this battle was too easy.

  "Director Cai, being able to annihilate 6,000 Green Horse Troops with such a small loss is already extremely rare. Although the ammunition consumption was relatively large, however, the lives of soldiers are forever the most important. Besides, those captives below are very useful to us, and the 11th Brigade is still waiting for these people to supplement them!" Wang Yuez said. When it was just the two of them, he always called Cai Yun "Uncle Cai". This could make their relationship even closer. Cai Yun was a very capable person, in Wang Yuez's view, after unifying the country later on, the position of Minister of National Defense would be none other than Cai Yun!

  "Hmm! Let them go and order those Green Dragon Army to surrender!" Cai Yun nodded his head. Wang Yuze's emphasis on the soldiers' lives made him very satisfied. After all, which soldier didn't hope to have a commander who loved them like their own son? And now, Wang Yuze's performance was undoubtedly highly appreciated by Cai Yun. This also made Cai Yun feel that Wang Yuze would be the best choice to inherit Western Sichuan.

  "The Qing army below, put down your weapons and surrender, spare your lives!" Suddenly, a voice came from the mountain wall beside the valley.

  "Surrender and we will spare your lives!" Then, the Sichuan soldiers on the mountain wall shouted loudly, their voices echoing throughout the Niubigou Valley.

  The remaining Green Army soldiers did not move, and they all looked at their superiors. Now that Gu Hongzhang had been killed, among the surviving Green Army soldiers, the highest-ranking officer was Lu Yuanqing, commander of the 9th Regiment.

  "Brother Lü, whether to fight or surrender, you decide!" The other battalion commanders chimed in, handing over the decision-making power to Lü Yuanqing.

  Lü Yuanching couldn't help but smile wryly. He knew exactly what these people were thinking. If the Western Sichuan Army ultimately failed and those above investigated, he, Lü Yuanching, would be the one to surrender, and they wouldn't bear any responsibility.

  "What war? What are we fighting with? Are we waiting to be slaughtered by the Sichuan army?" Lu Yuanqing sneered.

  The other battalion commanders suddenly fell silent. They weren't unaware that if they continued to fight, they would also have no way out. It was just that in order to be able to shirk responsibility in the future, they handed over the decision-making power to Lü Yuancheng.

  "For our own lives and for the lives of many soldiers. Surrender!" Lü Yuanching sighed, saying helplessly.

  "We surrender, we surrender!" The several regimental commanders immediately shouted loudly. With a look of relief on their faces, they surrendered and didn't have to die. Even if responsibility was pursued in the end, it had nothing to do with them, completely a win-win situation!

  Those originally bewildered soldiers of the Green Horse Army, upon hearing such an order, also followed suit and shouted loudly, their faces filled with the thrill of having narrowly escaped death.

  Afterwards, some of the soldiers from the Western Sichuan Army went down to the valley and collected all the weapons from the captives before putting them under guard. In the end, a total of over 5,000 Qing soldiers were captured, with less than 1,000 killed in battle. However, among these captives, there were several hundred seriously injured people. These seriously injured captives would likely not survive even after receiving simple medical treatment. But war is like that - where there is war, there will inevitably be death. The Western Sichuan Army was already showing great kindness by providing them with simple medical treatment.

  The losses of the Western Army were extremely minor, with only two unlucky soldiers being shot and killed by stray bullets in this battle, and only a few lightly wounded, with no serious injuries. Such casualties are undoubtedly astonishingly low.

  Next, they cleaned up the battlefield and buried all the bodies to prevent the outbreak of epidemics when the temperature rose. By the time everything was done, it was already late in the evening.

  At this time, a hurried horseshoe sound came from the south. However, it was not the enemy, but the 11th Brigade of the Western Sichuan Army who arrived. They had heard that the Western Sichuan Army and the Qing Ma Army were fighting in Wild Ox Gorge and immediately rushed over. However, they apparently still arrived late, the battle had already ended, and the Western Sichuan Army won a great victory again.

  "General, Chief of Staff, the battle is over?" Ma Qi asked with a surprised face. Originally he led the 11th Brigade to rush here in a hurry, still hoping to participate in the final battle! Unexpectedly, when they arrived, the battle had already ended, and even the battlefield had been cleaned up.

  "It's over! You've come too late!" Wang Yuezhe laughed.

  "General, how's the battle outcome?" Ma Yuntao asked.

  "The Tenth Legion lost two men, and annihilated over six thousand enemies. Among them, more than five thousand were captured, and over four thousand can be reorganized!" Cai Yun said with a smile.

  "My goodness! We've killed 6,000 of the enemy and only lost two men ourselves. This is almost too incredible to think about!" The officers of Ma Qi's 11th Brigade all clicked their tongues in amazement. If this was what their casualties were like, then even if the three Ma families joined forces, they still wouldn't be a match for the Western Sichuan Army.

  "Chief of Staff, can we hand over these captives to our 11th Brigade? With them, our 11th Brigade will be fully manned!" said Ma Yuntao, the Chief of Staff of the 11th Brigade.

  "No problem, you send people to guard the prisoners! Those who are willing to join us, let them join the Eleventh Brigade. However, those officers must be escorted back to Changdu for custody. We'll decide how to deal with them after the war!" Cai Yun said.

  "Yes! Chief of Staff!" Ma Qi and Ma Yun-tao immediately responded in unison.

  When the majority of prisoners joined the 11th Brigade, the total number of troops in the 11th Brigade exceeded 8,000. Except for the equipment not being as good as the 10th Brigade, the personnel configuration was almost the same as the 10th Brigade. Due to the lack of heavy equipment, all the troops under the 11th Brigade were organized into eight regiments, each with a strength of over 1,000 people. The regimental commanders were all old men who surrendered at the time of Qiangqin and young generals of the Qing army who surrendered at the time of Yushu. Originally, these people did not have much sense of belonging to the Sichuan Army. However, after seeing the terror of the Sichuan Army again, they dared not to have any second thoughts about the Sichuan Army. At the same time, considering Bai Meng's previous military achievements, he also became the deputy commander of the 11th Brigade as expected.

  The next day, the Western Sichuan Army set out again and headed towards Maqu. The two divisions had a total of 16,000 to 17,000 men, who marched towards Maqu in an imposing manner. After two days of marching, on the morning of April 10th, the Tenth and Eleventh Divisions of the Western Sichuan Army arrived at Maqu. At this moment, Maqu had already closed its city gates, and many Qing soldiers were standing on the city walls, looking in terror at the dense army of the Western Sichuan.

  PS: The second update is here! Finally, the collection has exceeded 3,000. Please continue to support Xiaoyu, book friends!