Ao Bai crouched in the grass and looked toward Dezhou City in the distance with the help of his telescope.
Fortunately, it was September, and although the vegetation was withered, it was not completely withered, so it was enough to cover the figures of Obai and the five hundred fine riders following him.
He watched the more than a hundred refugees walking towards the gate of Dezhou City.
As long as the city gate is captured, his five hundred cavalry will immediately rush up and occupy the city gate, and then behind him, twenty thousand and eight flags will swarm in.
They did not capture Dezhou to defend it. Using cavalry to defend the city was originally a stupid idea. Obai's real purpose is to destroy Dezhou, especially Yu Guozhen's military resources gathered here. If he burns them with a fire, then Yu Guozhen's 40,000 troops at Tianjin Wei and Cangzhou will lose their footing and have to retreat. Back away.
Even if he transports grain, grass and military supplies from the sea, it means that he must squeeze the space originally used to transport troops to transport grain, grass and military supplies, which can greatly slow down Yu Guozhen's troop concentration.
"Moreover, even if Yu Guozhen did not reveal any flaws when he withdrew his troops from Tianjin Guard and kept the entire army intact, the battle line would be pushed into Shandong territory.
The key to victory or defeat, and even the fate of the Qing Dynasty, lies in whether this group of people carefully selected by Wu Sangui can sneak into the city and seize the city gate.
As long as they can capture the city gate for three to five minutes, the overall situation will be decided.
It¡¯s early morning, and it¡¯s already foggy in Texas in September. The dew in the grass is quite uncomfortable when it touches people.
While Aobai stared at him with eager eyes, Ma Dabao walked to the city gate with a toolbox on his shoulders. Behind him were dozens of railway engineering soldiers, ever since Yu Guozhen stopped to greet him that day. Ma Dabao became famous among his team of railway engineering soldiers. Not only did Fei Shen no longer dare to talk back to him, but even the officials above them were polite to him.
So Ma Dabao¡¯s team is the first to leave the city and the last to enter the city every day - which means they have to work more overtime every day. Perhaps in the eyes of others, this is stupidity or stupidity. But in the eyes of the railway engineers at this moment, this is an opportunity for them to contribute more to China's future.
"Honor is greater than life, and responsibility is heavier than Mount Tai."
There was a lot of noise outside the door. Something seemed to have happened, but it had nothing to do with Ma Dabao and the others. They just waited for the city gate to open. Then he left the city and went to the construction site in the north of the city to continue his work.
The city gate slowly rose, and Ma Dabao walked at the front. He greeted the militiamen guarding the city gate and left the city.
Yu Guozhen¡¯s reinforcements took away all the 20,000 new reinforcements. There was only one battalion of the Chinese Army left in the city. Therefore, the militiamen were mainly responsible for garrison tasks and daily vigilance.
But at the door, Ma Dabao was stopped by a group of people.
He was stunned for a moment. The people on the opposite side were also stunned. Also stunned was Obai, who was observing in the forest with a telescope in his hand.
Since the railway engineering troops are called soldiers, although they are not a combat unit in the true sense, they still have discipline and unity. Elephant and horse Dabao. They are wearing military uniforms made of canvas. This kind of military uniform with camouflage is the common training labor protection uniform of the Chinese army. Therefore, at first glance, they are almost the same as the Chinese army in training.
"How is it possible? Is Yu Guozhen already prepared?"
Oboi¡¯s heart trembled. If he cannot seize the gate and relies on 20,000 cavalry to attack Dezhou City, even if Obai is arrogant, he has no such confidence. It is more likely that he will have no choice but to return to the army and risk testing the 20,000 cavalry. Yu Guozhen's main formation was protected by the army.
But he is a veteran on the battlefield after all, and he soon realized that it was not the city that had any preparations. If he was really prepared, what he saw was not a group of "soldiers" with their heads and brains in control, but muskets and bullets.
"Who are you and why are you blocking the road?"
At this time, Dezhou City still retained its city walls and suspension bridges. Yu Guozhen did not hope that with the use of reinforced concrete, all Chinese cities would lose their cultural features. Therefore, his attitude towards the old city walls and gates was to protect them as much as possible. If it is really in the way, for example, if the city gate opening is too small to allow entry and exit, then we would just consider expanding the city gate or opening more gates instead of directly demolishing it.
Of course, if it must be demolished, he will not insist on keeping it.
Therefore, Wu Sangui's men, who were pretending to be refugees, were now crowding on the opposite side of the moat. They were so anxious that they inevitably blocked the entire suspension bridge.
"Wewe are from Cangzhou. There was a war there and the people had no way to survive. We heard that the Huaxia Army was here to provide relief to the victims, so we rushed over. There are old and young here. I would like to ask the military master to make it convenient for us to enter. city!"
The people blocking the entrance to the suspension bridge started shouting. Ma Dabao felt happy when he heard that.He also longed for the Chinese Army in his heart. Being mistaken for the Chinese Army made him feel very glorious. Seeing that there were indeed old and young people on the other side, and some ugly women were still holding wrapped babies in their hands, he smiled and said: "Then you are in the right place, but we have to go out to work first, you wait. I'll have someone come to greet you later, but I have to give you some hot soup and rice first"
He waved to the militiamen at the door and gave a few orders. He was now very famous in Dezhou City. The militiamen knew him. After hearing this, they smiled and nodded. Thinking that he was recognized as a Chinese army, they did not forget to salute him. Military salute, and then ran away quickly.
Wu Sangui¡¯s subordinates winked at each other. They believed that Ma Dabao¡¯s status must be high, and it would be easy to command the servants. If there is a chance, it would be a good hostage to hold this person hostage. Even if it only makes the defenders overwhelmed for a short period of time, it can increase their chances of victory.
Ma Dabao didn't know that he was mistaken for an officer in the Chinese army. He thought about it and said to Fei Shen: "You take the people to work first, and I will arrive later. These people are so pitiful. I have experienced this before." The pain of escaping, if someone hadn't given me some solid food"
Speaking of this, Ma Dabao clicked his tongue a few times.
Wu Sangui¡¯s men did not dare to argue, so they immediately got out of the way and watched Fei Shen and others file out one by one. In the distance, Obai was also staring at the city gate and couldn't help holding his breath. So far, although there were some minor surprises, it seemed that those wearing the Chinese military training uniforms did not have any suspicion.
Fei Shen's people left first, followed by Ma Dabao. Seeing that he was the only one left, Wu Sangui's people winked at each other and swarmed over. Ma Dabao also wanted to help pick up a swaddled child, but suddenly he felt something was wrong: With all the noise, why didn't any of the babies they were holding cry?
Although he has received military training, he is not a real soldier after all, so he is vigilant but his reaction is slow. When he realized the problem, several Wu Sangui's men pretending to be refugees had already clamped him down, and two short knives were pointed at his ribs.
"Seize the city gate quickly!"
"kill!"
"Your officers are in our hands!"
"Abandon weapons, those who abandon weapons will not be killed!"
Ma Dabao¡¯s ears were filled with chaotic sounds for a moment. His mind was confused. The cold blade under his ribs made him realize that he seemed to be in some kind of dilemma. He instinctively clamped his arms down, tucking the two blades under his arms.
Although the two Wu Sangui men pointed their daggers at Ma Dabao, they had absolutely no intention of killing him immediately. In their opinion, it was best to restrain the "officer" and then threaten him to retreat. They only need to hold on in front of the city gate for a short period of time, even just a few minutes, and wait for Obai's five hundred fine cavalry to arrive, and then they will be done.
Therefore, they didn't care about Ma Dabao's action of holding the knife, but then he turned around. Although the edge of the dagger cut his clothes, because the tip of the dagger did not penetrate, it only made a cut under his ribs. , and was not stabbed to death. However, with this action, he clamped the two Wu Sangui's men, turned around like a meteor hammer, and swept several of Wu Sangui's men off the suspension bridge into the ditch.
Then Ma Dabao saw seven or eight daggers and daggers pointed at him, and he immediately panicked. He was an honest man, a little cunning, and hoped to join the Chinese army to kill the enemy, and he had received certain military training. , but it does not mean that he really has the ability to turn his strength into combat power. He turned around almost without thinking and jumped directly into the moat.
Railway engineering soldiers have to build bridges to cross rivers, so familiarity with water is a necessary skill. Although Ma Dabao is not very water-resistant, he still has the ability to flop in the moat. He got rid of the entanglement of a Wu Sangui soldier who was thrown into the trench and swam away. When he turned back, he saw that the city gate had been occupied by this group of attackers.
And not far away, the sound of horse hooves was rolling in like a storm.
Ma Dabao knew something was wrong. What he was most worried about now was not himself, let alone Dezhou City, but the railway engineering soldiers who had just left!
Just when he was worried, he heard a shout, and the voice was clearly from Fei Shen.
Although the railway engineering soldiers are not equipped with firearms, they do have shovels and picks in their hands, and they carry these tools with them when they go out to do work.
They rushed towards Wu Sangui's men. At the same time, the militiamen at the city gate also realized that they were armed militiamen with muskets in their hands.
The sound of gunfire started, but it was very sporadic. Wu Sangui's men attacked very quickly, and there were not many militiamen at the city gate.
"Go, go!"
Fei Shen knocked down one of Wu Sangui's men who was guarding the bridge, but saw Ma Dabao in the ditch anxiously waving his hand.Hand, Fei Shen was stunned for a moment, why should he leave at this time?
The sound of horse hooves behind him became more urgent. Fei Shen turned around and saw about five hundred horsemen approaching like a stormy wave!
The momentum of dozens of war horses galloping is already extremely astonishing, let alone five hundred. And further away, with smoke and dust billowing on the horizon, it is clear that more enemies are coming!
¡°Come down, come down!¡± Ma Dabao started shouting again.
Although Fei Shen wanted to intercept this group of enemy cavalry, when the distance between Obai and the others was getting closer and closer to within a hundred meters, Fei Shen suddenly understood what Ma Dabao meant.
With these people, it is impossible to stop this cavalry. In this situation, what did the commander say?
Preservation of vitality When people survive and the land is lost, everyone and the earth will survive. When people perish, the land will survive, and everyone and the earth will perish
Then Fei Shen shouted: "Jump off the moat! Jump off the moat!"! ~!
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