Chapter 245: The Voice of a Young Phoenix is Clearer than that of an Old Phoenix
Chapter 245: The Voice of a Young Phoenix is Clearer than that of an Old Phoenix
Three days later, Shao Quanzhong's army set up camp in Balchuktai, whose modern name is Bachu County.
There is a city called Malabash built during the reign of Emperor Daoguang. It is just a small fortress. When the army arrived, the few enemy troops in the fortress fled.
The small town of Malabash could not accommodate so many soldiers. Most of the tents were set up near the Kashgar River outside the city for easy access to water. Only Shao Quanzhong's headquarters moved into the fortress.
"report!"
"Come in."
Two handsome young officers stepped into Shao Quanzhong's command headquarters, wearing lieutenant epaulettes on their shoulders. They were Zhang Zihuai, the training and operations staff officer and acting chief of staff of the Guards Brigade, and Fan He, the reconnaissance staff officer.
The Huai Army's regular army staff were assigned to the brigade level, and there were only three staff officers at the division and brigade level, and the logistics staff officer did not come.
The newly recruited Fat Tiger in Korla has 10,000 men under his command, enough to form a cavalry reinforcement division. But they are not direct descendants, and they are not equipped with valuable staff officers who graduated from the Berlin Military Academy.
Looking at these two fellow villagers from Jiangyan, Shao Quanzhong was a little dazed.
They were all children of twelve or thirteen years old at that time, and they learned to read and write with Le Xiucai in Shaojiawei. I also taught them military theory classes.
With all the hustle and bustle of military life, these few years have passed like a flash.
Now Shaojiawei has become a thing of the past. In the blink of an eye, the children are already eighteen or nineteen years old. They have returned from studying in Prussia and have become young military officers that he relies on.
This child, whom he had personally nurtured, was the foundation for him to firmly control the Huai Army.
Zhang Zihuai, the training staff officer, spoke first, "After our staff's research, we should divide our forces tomorrow."
Shao Quanzhong also planned to divide his troops tomorrow, based on his intuition from many years of battlefield experience. It was not easy for these kids who did not have much combat experience to think of this.
Shao Quanzhong put his hands behind his back and looked at the tall Zhang Zihuai with a smile, "How did you come up with the idea of dividing the troops?"
"Reporting to the commander, we have come to this conclusion based on the battle objectives you set, combined with the terrain and enemy deployment."
Zhang Zihuai waved to Fan He, and Fan He took out a map from his briefcase and spread it on Shao Quanzhong's desk.
He reached out and picked up the portable marching gas lamp next to him, illuminating the map. The faint smell of rotten eggs, peculiar to the gas lamp, rushed into the nostrils of the three people.
This is a detailed military map from the four cities in southern Xinjiang to Balchuk. Under the warm light, various parameters are clearly marked, fully demonstrating the map skills of graduates from regular military academies.
"According to our scouts, Bakhurul has defeated the anti-righteous army led by Neyas who set out from Khotan and besieged Yarkand. Neyas was killed and the righteous army was scattered.
Bakhuli returned to Kashgar and joined forces with Bai Yanhu, and was attacking the rebel army of He Buyun who was defending Kashgar.
The only remaining Kokand soldiers are all under the city of Kashgar, Yingjisha and Yarkand are empty, and after the death of Niyas, Khotan is now in a state of no government.
The commander's operational goal for the Kashgar Campaign was to recover the four cities in southern Xinjiang as soon as possible and end the war in Yili Province.
If the entire army goes to Kashgar to fight, the enemy will flee to the other three cities after being defeated. We can fight them one by one to delay the time.
Therefore, we suggest that we send light cavalry to attack Khotan and maintain the public order there. We should divide our forces to capture Yarkand and Yingjisha, and finally join forces with the main force to attack the Kokand people under Kashgar, and solve the problem of the four cities in southern Xinjiang in one fell swoop. This is the best solution to achieve the commander's combat goal."
Shao Quanzhong nodded. That was right. He made sense. “Have you ever thought about what would happen if we split our forces and couldn’t defeat the combined forces of Berkhuli and Bai Yanhu, and Kashgar was lost?”
"Report to the commander, we have conducted war chess deductions.
According to detailed intelligence, the combined forces of Bakhuli and Bai Yanhu numbered 18,000. Bakhuli went to relieve the siege of Yarkand and did not need to attack the city, so he did not bring any artillery.
The leader of the Kashgar rebel army, He Buyun, was originally the commander of the Kashgar artillery unit. All the remaining artillery of the Kokand people have fallen into our hands.
The enemy has no heavy firepower, but our army has a light field artillery brigade, two machine gun companies, and two rapid-fire artillery companies. Even if we divide our forces, we still have an absolute advantage over the enemy.
The garrisons of Yarkand and Yingjisha had less than 300 men each, and heavy firepower was not needed for the siege, so all of the firepower could be allocated to the main force to rescue Kashgar.
This place is 500 miles away from the Kashgar Road and 450 miles away from Yarkand, and is located at a three-way intersection.
If we divide our forces, we can easily capture the empty Yarkand and Yingjisha. This is our battle plan."
Shao Quanzhong flipped through the General Staff's combat plan, laughed, and patted Zhang Zihuai on the shoulder.
"Good job, kid. You have some of Grant's style. The young are to be feared. Practice hard and surpass old G in the future. This battle plan will be based on yours. Go and deploy the tasks of the various units."
"Yes, sir."
The two staff officers turned around and walked out. Although there were two of them, there was only one sound when their boots stepped on the ground. The rigorous style learned from Prussian officers could be seen at a glance. The children had grown up, and the Huai Army was also growing into a regular army. He had less and less to worry about, and Shao Quanzhong was in a very good mood.
"Let's go patrol the camp!"
Shao Quanzhong walked out of the temporary command center and out of the Malabash Fortress.
The night sky in southern Xinjiang is pure and lofty, with a crescent moon in the sky and brilliant stars stretching across the horizon.
There were a lot of "quack quack" sounds coming from the Red Sea Lake in the distance. Those were not frogs, but Tarim toads.
The cool breeze of the summer night brings a light and moist air, which is particularly refreshing.
"Yuting, before I came to Yili Province, I always thought that the Northwest was a dry and water-scarce place. I didn't expect that we would always be accompanied by rivers and lakes along the way, and there is such a good place in Yili Province."
"Of course there is a lack of water in the desert Gobi. We are traveling on the Silk Road. How can there be an oasis without water? I heard that Nalati in the Ili River Valley is a good place with abundant water and grass. Fat Tiger also mentioned that he has been to Keketuohai in Altai. He said it was beautiful beyond words. Alas, these are all precious lands of our China. We must not let outsiders occupy them."
Hu Liuniang looked up at the starry sky. "The Milky Way seems to be particularly bright tonight. That is Vega, and the one with two small stars next to it is Altair. By the way, today is the Chinese Valentine's Day. Yuting, you are away on the expedition, Sister Xiu'er is seven or eight thousand miles away, and Sister Hui'er has even gone to London. Aren't we just like the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl, unable to see each other?"
Shao Quanzhong laughed loudly, "Oh my god, Niulang may be like me, he only sees his wife once a year. Zhinu is in heaven, one day in heaven is one year on earth, but every day, Niulang, who has been on earth for a year, can go up to heaven to accompany him. How can the Queen Mother let her daughter down? Zhinu must be very tired."
This is the first time that Hu Liuniang has heard such a strange interpretation of the story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. Thinking about it, it seems to be in line with the setting of the fairy system.
Hu Liuniang chuckled, "Yuting, where did you hear all this nonsense?"
"When Hu Zi was hanging out with a bunch of rough guys all day, what good things could he say?"
Hu Liuniang stood in the shadow behind Shao Quanzhong, her eyes sparkling.
I am also a bearded man, and I have heard a lot of similar messy and disrespectful interpretations of gods. I have had many similar experiences with Yuting.
In her arms she held a letter that Rong Hui had handed to her before she left, in which she asked Shao Quanzhong to treat Liu Niang well and that she was going to London. Brother Shao should take Liu Niang into his room as soon as possible to prevent her from being lonely.
With Rong Hui's urging, Shao Quanzhong might have obeyed the order, but Liu Niang did not take out the letter at all.
She felt that after following Shao Quanzhong, she learned a lot of new things and her eyes were opened to the whole world, which excited her more than love affairs.
Hui'er and Xiu'er were thousands of miles away from each other, and I was already quite satisfied that I could always follow Yuting and spend more time with him than the two ladies. If I hurriedly entered the room, once I had a child, I would no longer be able to be Yuting's secretary, and I would be reluctant to do so.
…………
Nine days later, Shao Quanzhong led two guard battalions and the Tubo battalion to the outside of Yarkand City. The soldiers prepared ladders to attack the city, and more than 200 defenders in the city surrendered directly.
The Tubo camp sent a thousand men to rush to Hotan to temporarily maintain public order, leaving a thousand men in Yarkand. Wang Nima personally led a thousand men and followed Shao Quanzhong to attack Yingjisha directly.
Four days later, Yingjisha was captured in one fell swoop. On July 22, the sixth year of the Tongzhi reign, Shao Quanzhong led his troops to Kashgar.
Outside the city of Kashgar, there was the sound of gunfire and the fighting was fierce.
From the top of the city walls and behind the Kokand people, artillery shells continued to fly into the Kokand army's formation.
Dong Fuxiang led four battalions of the main Gansu Army, carrying artillery, machine guns and rapid-fire artillery units, and moved relatively slowly, so he arrived half a day earlier than Shao Quanzhong who took a detour.
Bakhuri's army was attacking the city in a hurry when they were suddenly attacked by heavy firepower from the Gansu Army from the north and behind. They were caught off guard and had already lost their composure. When they saw reinforcements from the enemy in the east, they immediately fled to the west.
The Imperial Guards Brigade and the Gansu Army joined forces to pursue, and the rebels in the city also opened the city gates and pursued them out.
After chasing them for eighty miles in the northwest, the Kokand people were severely wounded or killed.
After chasing for such a long distance, the rebels without horses had already turned back halfway, and the artillery and baggage troops did not participate in the pursuit.
In the end, only the dragoons from the Gansu Army and the six battalions of the Guards Brigade and the cavalry from the Solon Battalion and the Xibe Battalion were still in pursuit.
There were only about 4,000 enemy troops left in front of them, and they suddenly split up. Bai Yanhu led 3,000 men and a few baggage and family members to flee to the north, while Berkhuli led only 1,000 men to flee to the west.
The Huai Army also immediately divided its forces. Dong Fuxiang led the Gansu Army to pursue Bai Yanhu, while Shao Quanzhong led two guard battalions and Qing cavalry to pursue the smaller number of Bokehuli.
The thousand men led by Berkhuli were the most elite guards among the Kokand soldiers. They abandoned their baggage and families and ran so fast that they could not be caught up. They crossed a mountain pass and entered the territory of Russia.
Shao Quanzhong was just about to continue chasing when smoke and dust suddenly rose from the other side of the mountain pass, the sound of rumbling horses' hooves was heard, and two thousand Cossacks patrolling the border appeared in sight.
The Cossacks, wearing Chaksi sabers and riding tall Don horses, were showing off their power. They took off their carbines and pointed them at the Huai Army at the mountain pass.
(End of this chapter)