Chapter 146: Wise Nogi Maresuke

While several people were talking, Wang Shizhen came over with a smile on her face and held a post-war statistical document.

He first stood aside, and when there was a slight pause between the conversation, he quietly handed the document to Wei Jichen.

Wei Jichen happened to have said what he needed to say, so he immediately turned it over and took a look.

The first thing I saw above was the casualties of soldiers from both China and Japan. As for the Chinese army, there were more than 5,000 casualties, of which more than 2,000 were slightly injured and were able to participate in the next battle. The rest were either dead or seriously injured. Only Someone has been sent to Haicheng.

Among them, more than 4,000 people of the Japanese 3rd Division were killed, and about 2,000 of them escaped scattered.

Oshima Hisao, Kuri Iihara, Ogawa Jiro and other important generals of the 3rd Division were all killed, Katsura Taro was captured, and only one captain, Shiba Yejima, fled into the mountains with the remaining troops and disappeared without a trace.

What surprised Wei Jichen even more was that the 3rd Field Artillery Regiment led by Gui Tailang rushed to the battle, and many cannons were not blown up in time, and were finally left to the Chinese army.

Among them were 10 bronze cannons made by the Japanese, and 20 mountain-mounted steel cannons that were captured by the Japanese army from the Qing army.

Wei Jichen couldn't help but think of the famous song "No guns, no cannons, the enemy helped us build them." ’ The song came. Now it seems that this song can be sung by the Japanese army.

Wei Jichen remembered that Nie Shicheng had told him sadly that during the Yalu River defense war, the armies abandoned more than 70 cannons in total, and these cannons fell into the hands of the Japanese intact.

It really makes people speechless.

Forget it, let’s think of something happy.

Wei Jichen raised the statistics table and asked Wang Shizhen, "Qing Qing, how many of these captured cannons can be used?"

"Sir, due to the different calibers of the cannons, the ten Japanese bronze cannons can only fire a few shots. Our army has no shortage of shells for the mountain steel cannons." Wang Shizhen obviously knew it by heart. When Wei Jichen asked, he could immediately Answer it.

Wei Jichen asked a few more questions, and Wang Shizhen answered them fluently.

In this way, he turned around and introduced to Ma Jinxu and others with a smile: "This is Wang Shizhen, our artillery battalion officer. He has studied in the artillery department of Tianjin Armed Forces Academy for three years. He is familiar with various new artillery, understands Western-style warfare, and is also capable of fighting. He is very brave. The ring finger of his left hand was lost in the Battle of Pyongyang. If you have no objections, I will put all the artillery units under his command. "

Ma Jinxu and others also saw the power of Wei Zijun's artillery battalion in today's battle. Now that they heard that it was commanded by such a humble man standing in front of him and others, they couldn't help but marvel.

Seeing that the few people neither agreed nor objected, Wei Jichen turned around and said to Wang Shizhen: "Mr. Pin, I have just discussed with you all, and will use the 52 cannons from each army together with the newly captured cannons. To deal with Nogi Nogi's tribe, are you confident in leading this newly formed artillery army?"

Wang Shizhen was shocked. In this way, there were more than 80 cannons. He had never commanded so many artillery teams.

He couldn't help but feel a little panic. With so many cannons being used together, not to mention the scheduling of personnel, the management of artillery shells was also a problem, because there were cannons of various calibers. If the wrong shells were used, they would explode. chamber, at least it cannot be used.

It's really difficult.

But when Wang Shizhen met Wei Jichen's encouraging eyes, she felt her heart heat up and thought to herself: Wei Shuai values ​​me so much, how can I back down so easily! Even if you risk your life, you must command well.

Thinking of this, Wang Shizhen immediately clasped her fists and said: "Commander Wei, my subordinates have been disrespectful and I feel ashamed. I will do my best to lead this artillery team."

After Wang Shizhen finished speaking, she looked at the other commanders and said loudly: "My lords, if there is someone else in the artillery team who can surpass Wang, Wang will be willing to abdicate in favor of someone else."

After Wang Shizhen finished speaking, she stood motionless and said nothing.

Wei Jichen looked at a few people with a smile and said: "It's a donkey or a horse. You'll know if it's a donkey or a horse. If you take it out for a walk, you'll know. Since Qing Bing has said so, don't worry about my feelings. Those who are capable will rise to the top. This has always been the case in Wei Zi's army." "

After a pause, Wei Jichen continued: "Okay, everyone, we don't have much time. Please organize the army to set off immediately after we get down. The earlier we arrive at Qugou, the earlier we can start the arrangement."

After this ambush battle, the officers and soldiers of the three armies were all in high morale and their troops were at the forefront. It was time to take advantage of the victory to attack.

Not long after Wei Jichen's order was issued, before the Japanese corpses in the sky were covered with snow, the five groups of people hurried towards Ququgou under the leadership of their respective commanders.

Unexpectedly, Wei Jichen would fight against Katsura Taro's 3rd Division, and Nogi Nogi would also fight against the Chinese army over there. This army was none other than the Yijun Jiang Guiti Guizi Army who came to support Haicheng.

Jiang Guiti was not a very talented person, but fortunately he was not a greedy person. The encounter between the two armies was quite accidental. After a slight encounter, Jiang Guiti saw that the Japanese were powerful, so he led his army to fight and retreat, while still being anxious. Send people to Haicheng for help.

Li Yunfei was also shocked when he learned about his request for help. He had just received Wei Jichen's plan to attack the enemy in Ququgou.

Li Yunfei was afraid that Jiang Guiti would disrupt Wei Jichen's deployment, so he had to send someone to notify Wei Jichen and order him to lead his troops to retreat toward Ququgou.

As for the effect, it is unknown.

It was late at night when Wei Jichen received the news from Li Yunfei. At this time, the army was only two hours away from Quzigou, but the army marched all night last night, fought all morning this morning, and marched for most of the afternoon.

Such frequent mobilizations are unbearable even for a strong man.

No matter how anxious Wei Jichen was, he had to order the whole army to stop advancing, rest for a night, and move camp tomorrow morning.

Now that he knew that Jiang Guiti and Nogi Maresuke had fought, Wei Jichen was secretly anxious. This Jiang Guiti came at the wrong time.

^.^,

According to the normal marching speed, Nogi Maresuke should arrive at Quzigou at noon tomorrow, but with Jiang Guiti's intervention, everything became uncertain again.

What if Jiang Guiti panicked and fled to other places? Would Nogi Maresuke lead his troops to follow him closely?

If Jiang Guiti retreated too quickly and Nogi Maresuke pursued him closely, his troops might have crossed the river before his army reached Quzigou.

Where can he find such a good opportunity in the end?

Wei Jichen was not afraid of a head-on confrontation, but there was no need to gamble with the lives of his soldiers.

After all, it was because Wei Jichen's strategy of defeating them one by one was too tight in time. The battlefield was changing rapidly, and it was not something that Wei Jichen could do as he wanted.

Wei Jichen sat in the main tent and thought for a while, and finally decided to go ahead at night to stabilize Jiang Guiti. The army would still wait until tomorrow morning to move out, otherwise the soldiers would not be able to bear it.

After making the decision, Wei Jichen immediately found Ma Jinxu and other four commanders, explained everything and his concerns clearly, and asked them to lead the troops to Quzigou before noon tomorrow. After that, Wei Jichen led his personal guards, braved the severe cold, stepped on the snow, and rushed into the night.

The four of them were very moved when they saw Wei Jichen actually went to Jiangying in person in the middle of the night despite being tired.

At the same time, Nogi Maresuke's mixed brigade camp.

Although it was late at night, the entire camp was still busy, because they were frantically chasing Jiang Guiti's army and had just stopped chasing.

Fortunately, the main camp had been built, and Nogi Maresuke and several generals of the mixed brigade were discussing things inside.

"Sir, after an afternoon of fighting, our army killed 300 and captured more than 400 Chinese soldiers." Colonel Kawasaki first reported today's results to Nogi Maresuke.

Nogi Maresuke nodded with satisfaction, and then asked: "Where are those Chinese prisoners now?"

"They are trying their best to build a camp under the supervision of the imperial soldiers." Colonel Kawasaki smiled and replied, these Chinese are really free coolies, and they become a group of real farmers when they put down their guns, working hard and not complaining, much more hardworking than those Koreans.

"Well, wait until the captives help to move the camp tomorrow, and then kill them all, so that they won't affect the speed of the imperial army." Nogi Maresuke said casually without changing his expression.

Colonel Kawasaki wrote down everything one by one.

"Major General, the army we are fighting today is Jiang Guiti Guizi Army sent by Song Qing to support Haicheng. Will Song Qing lead his troops to attack Gaiping and cut off our army's retreat?" Colonel Oki thought for a while and reminded.

Japanese spies are all over Liaodong. Not to mention the names of the commanders of each army, even the names of the battalion officers of each battalion are also known to them. This is why Wei Jichen did not dare to tell his plan to the higher-ups.

Maybe Wei Jichen just reported to the higher-ups today that he was going to pretend to be dead to deceive the Japanese, and tomorrow the Japanese will send people to laugh at Wei Jichen.

Oki This is a commonplace, and they had considered it as early as Gaiping City.

Nogi Maresuke said without any concern: "Song Qing is too old to have such courage. Even if he dares to lead his troops to attack Gaiping, the two thousand warriors left in Gaiping will hold them back. When we capture Haicheng, we will return to rescue and attack from both inside and outside. Even Song Qing's Yi Army will be annihilated."

Oki said again: "There has been no intelligence from Haicheng for a day. Could it be that the imperial intelligence personnel in Haicheng were killed?"

Nogi Maresuke pouted and said: "The remnants of the Weizi Army hate the imperial intelligence personnel to the bone. Even the expatriates of the empire were brutally killed by them. So the surviving intelligence personnel must be hiding carefully and dare not pass on intelligence at will."

Oki saw that Nogi Maresuke's words were reasonable and logical, and he couldn't help but admire: "It is my honor to serve you."

As he was talking, there was a sound of footsteps outside the door, and a guard came in hurriedly to report.

"Your Excellency, the commander of the brigade, Colonel Shibanojima of the 3rd Division has just arrived outside the camp with more than a thousand soldiers." The soldier who reported the news knelt on the ground, looking puzzled.

Then he added, "It seems that the colonel has just fought with others, and the soldiers he led are all injured."

Nogi Maresuke was shocked and stood up and said, "Gentlemen, follow me to find out the situation."

A moment later, Nogi Maresuke saw Shibanojima sitting in the open space in the camp in a daze from a distance.

The soldiers around him also looked panicked.

What surprised Nogi Maresuke even more was that all these soldiers were seriously injured. It was obvious that they had been through a hard battle. There were already military doctors who came forward to take care of the injured soldiers.

"Shibano-kun! What's going on with your regiment?" Nogi Maresuke walked to Shibanojima and asked in confusion.

"Nogi-kun, you want to avenge our 3rd Division. These are not just the soldiers of our regiment, these are all the remaining soldiers of our 3rd Division. Our 3rd Division was ambushed by Wei Jichen's troops. The division The whereabouts of the leader are unknown, and he is probably broken by the empire." Seeing Nogi Nogi, Shiba Yejima fell on the ground with his hands and cried loudly as if he had found his mother's child.

Shiba Yejima's words shocked all the generals in the mixed brigade.

Colonel Heli asked in disbelief: "You mean these are the only people left in your 3rd Division. Also, wasn't that Wei Jichen killed in a bomb long ago? How can he still command the army in combat?"

Colonel Kawari's question also brought out the thoughts of others. Everyone looked at Shiba Yejima with disbelief, hoping that he was joking.

Shiba Yejima wiped away his tears while gritting his teeth and said: "Wei Jichen, this despicable and shameless thing, is not dead at all. All this is his conspiracy to lure our 3rd Division to attack Haicheng so that he can set up a plot to ambush and annihilate. ”

Everyone was frightened and asked for details.

With tears and runny noses, Shiba Yejima recounted what happened and his guesses in detail. When he mentioned that he led less than a thousand soldiers to escape from the encirclement and finally escaped here, Shiba Yejima was already crying. Red and swollen.

"Despicable, Wei Jichen did not dare to confront the imperial army head-on, but he resorted to such despicable methods." Nogi Nogi shouted angrily, and casually grabbed a Qing prisoner who was carefully passing by him carrying a piece of wood, pulled out his knife and backhanded him Cut off the prisoner's head with one knife.

"Shibano-kun, please rest assured that I, Nogi Nogi, will definitely avenge the 3rd Division. Now that Wei Jichen's treacherous plot has been exposed, there is no chance of ambushing my brigade. Oki, immediately send more reconnaissance riders to explore the surroundings. If any abnormality is found, Report to me immediately."

"Hi!" Colonel Oki responded and hurried down to make arrangements.

Colonel Heli looked at Shiba Yedao who was crying in pain, and after a few words of comfort, he asked: "Shiba Ye-kun, in your estimation, what are the casualties of the Qing army led by Wei Jichen?"

Seeing Heli asking about business, Chai Yedao had no choice but to hold back his cries and said bitterly: "If it weren't for that Wei Jichen who took advantage of the location to set up an ambush, how would our 3rd Division have suffered such heavy losses? Even so, Wei Jichen also paid a lot of effort. The cost is huge, and the ratio of casualties to our army will not be less than one to one.”

"Humph, since then, he only has more than 7,000 wounded and disabled generals under his command. As long as we no longer fall into his tricks, our mixed brigade can completely defeat him head-on." Nogi Nogi said with confidence.