Chapter 149: Gap (Please Save It)

"Sir, the scouts ahead sent back news that the Guizi Army had actually built a defensive fortification in front of the Quzigou River in an attempt to block our army's advance."

Nogi Maresuke heard this absurd information at dawn.

After he got the news that Wei Jichen was still alive yesterday, he set his main target on the Weizi Army. The Guizi Army had become a thorn in his side and was not worth mentioning at all.

This morning, he heard that the army he had not taken seriously was actually preparing to fight him, and Nogi Maresuke was so angry that he laughed.

"Since Jiang Guiti wants to go to hell first, I will send him off." Nogi Maresuke stood up and slowly put on white gloves.

"Sir, Jiang Guiti dared to do this, probably because he had learned about the defeat of the Imperial 3rd Division, and it is very likely that Wei Jichen has led the army here." Colonel Oki under Nogi Maresuke was quite capable and immediately linked the matter to Wei Jichen.

Nogi Maresuke had already put on his white gloves and was putting on his command knife. Hearing what Colonel Oki said, he couldn't help but sneer: "I was really afraid that Wei Jichen would hide in the city and wait for us to attack. I didn't expect that he still had some courage. He was just the stepping stone for my mixed brigade. Let the world see who is better, Nogi Maresuke or Wei Jichen."

"Gentlemen, please join me, Nogi Maresuke, to defeat the Gui army, defeat the Wei army, and capture Wei Jichen alive. I, Nogi Maresuke, want this man to twist the chamber pot for the horse." Nogi Maresuke drew out his command knife and screamed.

The Japanese commanders in the tent were all excited when they heard this.

Oki thought about it, but couldn't think of any flaws, so he had to join in the screaming atmosphere.

Nogi Maresuke's mixed brigade quickly broke camp, leaving behind a pile of dead Chinese prisoners. Soon, a group of wild dogs smelled the fishy smell and surrounded them.

On the Guizi Army position at Quzigou River, Wei Jichen stayed up all night and was still energetic, which really made Jiang Guiti secretly envious. He was a little tired.

Wei Jichen only asked the soldiers to build a few simple fortifications last night, and then let them rest in peace, but as commanders, Wei Jichen and Jiang Guiti were not so lucky, and they had been dealing with various military affairs until this morning.

Wei Jichen did not tell Jiang Guiti that he had buried countless explosives in the river. It was not that he did not trust Jiang Guiti, but there was no need to do so.

"Report, General Wei, General Jiang, the Japanese are only one hour away from here." The spy rode in a dusty manner and quickly turned over and dismounted to report.

"Huaiqing, just now a messenger said how long it would take for our army to reach Quzigou?" Wei Jichen frowned and asked.

"To answer your words, it seems to take about two hours." Wang Huaiqing replied immediately.

"Brother Jiang, it seems that your Guizi Army will have to guard for two hours. Please take care of everything." Wei Jichen bowed solemnly.

The reason why Wei Jichen said two hours is that after the army arrived, it will definitely take some time for Wang Shizhen to set up the artillery position.

Jiang Guiti said seriously: "Don't worry, brother, even if I risk my life, I will lead the troops here and not retreat a single step. But brother, you can't let me down. If you can't annihilate Nogi Maresuke, I won't forgive you."

Jiang Guiti was born in poverty and begged for a living when he was a child. He has long developed the habit of swearing.

Wei Jichen smiled and nodded heavily.

Jiang Guiti immediately turned around and went down to command the soldiers.

In the trenches that were only half a person deep, the soldiers of the Guizi Army were lying on the frozen hard soil.

Pairs of eyes were nervously looking ahead, and some soldiers' hands were still shaking quietly. After all, they were just mud-legged people who had just picked up guns. Not to mention people, some people had never even killed a chicken.

Seeing this, Jiang Guiti couldn't help but sigh secretly. He had been marching and fighting for many years. In fact, he did not agree with the court's idea of ​​recruiting a large number of new soldiers, expanding the army, and trying to win by numerical advantage.

In Jiang Guiti's view, this would have very serious consequences. First, the expansion of the army was too much, and the backward logistics support system led to insufficient supply of weapons. Some newly recruited soldiers, who had no guns for the time being, were holding swords and spears. Second, the quality of the recruits was too unsightly. They were suddenly given a shot, forced to shoot the cannon, and didn't know how to fire it. How could they say that they hit it?

However, today he chose to believe Wei Jichen once. After all, this young man had repeatedly created miracles, had many military exploits, and had no plan left out. He couldn't help but be convinced.

"Here they come!" A soldier shouted in panic.

In the distance, a group of Japanese cavalry approached slowly and finally stopped a thousand meters away from the position.

Bang, bang, bang,

Some soldiers opened fire with their eyes closed.

The panicked soldiers caused panic around them. Suddenly, gunshots rang out in an instant, and bullets hit the snow, causing snowflakes to splash.

Jiang Guiti was so angry that his nose was almost crooked when he saw this. He immediately ran from the rear command post to the front trench.

Jiang Guiti was a burly man, and he took two steps in three steps. Not long after, he jumped into the trench.

"Stop it, damn it, is this how I taught you to shoot? You son of a bitch, do you want to die or something!" Jiang Guiti ran behind a soldier who was shooting with his eyes closed and kicked him hard in the ass.

Jiang Guiti's personal soldiers also shouted everywhere, and finally calmed the panicked soldiers down.

Wei Jichen had no choice but to trot over from the back. Jiang Guiti's Guizi Army was not under his control yet, but belonged to the category of friendly forces. He could not use military strategist skills to boost morale.

So he could only treat them as defeated soldiers and use military strategist skills to stabilize the army.

The first level of stabilizing the army's morale requires 500 points of prestige, consumes 50 points of mental power, takes one day, and can target up to 5,000 people. As long as it is his own army, whether it belongs to Wei Jichen's army or not, it will be effective.

In this way, it is not worth it. Not to mention that it requires a lot, although there are many targets, Wei Jichen does not need it at all. The Guizi Army has only more than 2,000 soldiers in total, and the effect is not as good as boosting morale. After all, it is just to appease the defeated soldiers so that they will not collapse.

However, seeing the situation of the Guizi Army, if he does not use it, let alone two hours, I am afraid he can't even hold out for ten minutes.

"The Japanese are just two-legged creatures, and they are even shorter than us. What's there to be afraid of? I, Wei Jichen, will fight with you today!" Wei Jichen roared while performing the stabilization of the army's morale.

And after performing the stabilization, he had to throw a few Baihua Yulu pills into his mouth to replenish his mental strength.

Stabilizing the army's morale still worked. With Wei Jichen and Jiang Guiti both entering the front line, the panicked soldiers finally looked less pale.

Nogi Maresuke heard the chaotic gunfire coming from the Katsura Army's position, and couldn't help laughing with the Japanese generals.

"Oki, how long will it take for your regiment to break through the Katsura Army's station?" Nogi Maresuke suddenly stopped smiling and asked Colonel Oki next to him.

"To answer your Excellency, half an hour is enough." Oki replied calmly.

"I'll leave this to you. In ancient times, Guan Yu killed Hua Xiong with warm wine. Today, I hope to get the news that you have captured the position of the Guizi Army after tasting a cup of tea." Nogi Maresuke was not interested at all. He yawned and handed over the command of the front line to Oki.

"Hi! I promise to complete the task." Oki put his feet together and saluted.

A moment later, the Japanese had formed a scattered formation and began to attack slowly.

Boom, boom.

Oki was worthy of being a top student of the Imperial Japanese Army Academy. When the Japanese soldiers rushed halfway, the sound of artillery sounded and exploded in the position of the Guizi Army.

A joint battle between artillery and infantry began.

Damn! Damn!

Wei Jichen spit out the mud and snow in his mouth. When the shells fell just now, he squatted on the ground and hid his head deeply under his shoulders. Time was limited, the fortifications were very simple, and there was no air-raid shelter at all. Now he could only pray that the bomb would not fall on him. It was nothing if the shrapnel flew over, at least there was a bulletproof vest to block it.

"Brothers, aim at the Japanese in front and get ready for battle!" Wei Jichen saw that the Japanese were getting closer and closer, and the gunfire stopped, so he shouted loudly.

Pushing a Guizi Army sergeant lying on the ground beside him, Wei Jichen found that his neck was hit by bomb fragments and he had died.

The front was densely packed with Japanese, holding all kinds of weapons and rushing over like a tide.

"Fight, fight!" Jiang Guiti shouted hoarsely: "Brothers, as long as you hold on for two hours, reinforcements will arrive."

The soldiers of the Guizi Army were all excited when they heard this.

Gunshots rang out and smoke filled the air.

Wei Jichen's bright eyes looked for valuable targets among the Japanese charging crowd.

The Japanese junior officers suffered, and two sergeants died soon.

Wei Jichen was fighting excitedly, but the Japanese retreated calmly. It turned out to be a test attack. Yinqi seized the hole in the trench on the left side of the position that was not dug deep, and immediately adjusted the army and rushed up for the second time.

The soldiers of the Guizi Army were bloodthirsty and kept shooting bullets. From time to time, unlucky Japanese were shot and fell down, but the fighting skills of the soldiers on both sides were not at the same level.

With a bang, a soldier beside Wei Jichen fell down, and blood gushed out from his chest. He opened his eyes wide and struggled hard, but he couldn't stand up anyway. His body squirmed in the pool of blood for a few times and finally stopped moving.

"Damn it, I'm going to fight you!"

The companions beside him had red eyes, stood up desperately, fired a shot, and just as he was about to fire the second shot, a bullet pierced his body.

He shook a few times and finally fell down softly.

The casualties are increasing.

Wei Jichen had never been so angry and frustrated as he was now. He could only watch the people around him fall down one after another.

He finally understood why the Chinese army was losing ground. Not to mention the new recruits, even the veterans were not well trained. If they went to the battlefield like this, they would only be abused.

How could they not be defeated if they were so calm and playful?