Volume 1 Wuchang Vortex Chapter 70: The persistence of Wusheng Pass
In the hazy night with mountain shadows, brown-red flames continued to rise from the city gates. Under the cover of artillery, a full battalion of more than 2,000 Henan Patrol City Battalion infantrymen rushed towards the city gates. Although this unit, which was reorganized from the early years of the Yi Army, was in decline, under the clamor of the Beiyang cavalry behind them, the officers had no choice but to bite the bullet and launch a charge.
"Hold it! To hold this place means to hold our hometown behind us!" Amid the smoke of gunfire, the young Shi Xiaolou held down his military cap and trotted along the battlements while constantly encouraging the soldiers.
With a loud bang, a 5/7 shell landed beside him. The hot air wave knocked him to the ground. He rolled a few times and slid behind the battlement next to him. Several soldiers hurriedly supported him and shouted, "Captain, are you okay?"
"It's okay, I won't die before you!"
Seeing that he was fine, everyone immediately turned around and hid behind the battlements and kept shooting. The bullets kept chirping past their ears, and soldiers were hit and fell from time to time.
Shi Xiaolou took a breath, climbed to the gap between the battlements and looked out. The densely packed enemy troops made him feel a little worried.
The Wusheng Pass under his feet is one of the nine great passes in the world. It locks Ezhou in the south and protects the heartland of the Central Plains in the north. Together with Jiuli Pass in the east and Pingjing Pass in the southwest, it is known as the Three Passes of Xinyang. There are crisscrossing mountains and peaks nearby. The pass is blocked by mountains and the mountains are carved into passes. A Beijing-Hankou Line passes directly under the pass. It has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. Therefore, since Zhang Zhidong founded the new army, this place has been controlled by the Hubei Army.
But no matter how dangerous the pass is, it still needs soldiers to guard it! He was just a captain of the 15th Brigade of the Eighth Regiment. He had studied command for two years at the Japanese Military Academy. Since the 3rd Battalion of the 42nd Regiment originally stationed here had a new commander returning to Hanyang for training, he was ordered to be stationed here. Seeing that there was only one team with less than 200 people at such a big pass, and only two heavy weapons, he was anxious!
What was more serious was that the news of the Wuchang Incident reached here early the next morning. The sudden changes in his hometown made him and his soldiers somewhat overwhelmed. No one knew whether they should continue to guard this important pass that controls Hubei, or give up and go home.
As an officer, he knew better than the soldiers that if the Qing army was allowed to seize the pass and march south, it would be difficult to defend the three towns of Wuchang, which were flat and undefended. So he finally gritted his teeth and ordered to continue to garrison. He originally thought that even if he couldn't hold it, he could delay it for a while, and the brother troops would definitely arrive soon. Unexpectedly, it was already the fourth night, and there was still no reinforcement troops. He gradually became gloomy in his heart, knowing that his team might have been completely forgotten.
No one likes the feeling of being forgotten, especially the soldiers who are on duty far away in a foreign land. This makes everyone very sad. But just when he and the soldiers were planning their next move, a patrol battalion from Henan arrived at the pass . Perhaps it was due to their many years of service, the battle broke out so hastily.
In the past, he would not have even given a second glance to a rubbish unit like the City Patrol Battalion, but at this moment he had few soldiers and lacked heavy weapons. As his comrades fell one by one, the expected reinforcements did not appear at all. In addition, the resentment of being abandoned in his heart gradually erupted, and the soldiers' desire to fight began to decline rapidly.
Should we continue to hold on? Shi Xiaolou was unwilling to let the Beiyang occupy this place in vain, but when he glanced at the soldiers who were resisting, he saw that they would look at him every time after firing a shot. He immediately cried out in his heart, because this was a sign of the army's collapse! He quickly raised his gun and shouted: "Brothers! Wushengguan is the soul of our Hubei. Without the soul, how can we save our lives! There are only some patrol camps below. As long as we hold on tonight, we can go back and ask for help tomorrow morning!"
"Captain, I'm afraid my brothers..." The deputy officer rushed to Shi Xiaolou and said in panic, "It's not worth it! We can't defend it by ourselves. We should withdraw to Wuchang and cooperate with the main force to defend Hankou."
"Without Wusheng Pass, what can we protect?" Shi Xiaolou looked at the deputy captain coldly and said firmly: "If we can't defend Wusheng Pass and stop the train of the Manchus heading south, what's the point of fighting!"
"If you want to fight, go ahead. I won't fight anymore." The deputy captain gathered a dozen soldiers and prepared to leave without saying a word.
Shi Xiaolou was so angry that he kicked his short-sighted deputy officer away and shouted at his back: "Go to hell, don't think I don't know what you are thinking! I don't care who you are. Since I have been ordered to guard Wusheng Pass, I can't lose it! Whoever wants to leave can leave. As long as I live, Wusheng Pass will not be lost from me!"
After saying that, he turned around and lay on the ground, aiming at a Qing soldier and pulled the trigger.
The crisp sound of shooting was lonely and fierce. Each bullet could take away a Qing soldier who rushed up. Looking at his young and determined face in the flames of the explosion, some soldiers hesitated for a moment and then joined the battle again, but some also evacuated the pass with the deputy team officer.
"Manchu Tartars, I'm going to fight you!"
With so many soldiers gone, the defense strength of the pass suddenly declined a lot. Many enemy troops had already climbed up from the low slopes on both sides. Shi Xiaolou's eyes turned red and he shouted, "Brothers, we are going to die anyway, let's fight!"
"Bayonet!"
The sharp bayonets were quickly stuck to the muzzles of the guns, and the remaining less than a hundred soldiers followed Shi Xiaolou to rush to the low slopes on both sides. A Qing soldier who had just come up was pierced in the chest by the bayonet before he could react, and fell down, and also knocked down his companions behind him.
"Wusheng Pass cannot be lost! Absolutely not!"
Shi Xiaolou kept shouting as he led his few soldiers into a bloody fight with the enemy. Just as he stabbed to death a Beiyang cavalryman who had abandoned his horse and joined the infantry, a sharp saber was swung at him.
"It's worth it!" He glanced at the densely packed enemy corpses and subconsciously blocked them. As he was about to be attacked by sabers, he suddenly heard dense gunfire beside his ears, and then...
"It's reinforcements, our reinforcements!"
A soldier next to him was already crying and shouting. Following his finger, countless soldiers in yellow new uniforms began to pounce past him. The Beiyang cavalryman who had dismounted and followed the infantry to fight and was about to chop him had already been shot in the head.
“Go!”
"Machine guns, set up the machine guns..."
He Xi finally arrived at the most critical moment. The light machine gun once again demonstrated its lethality and good mobility in chaotic scenes. Even a novice who has just learned how to use it can deploy it quickly. The Madsen M50 uses German-made pointed bullets, which are more lethal!
The morale of the Qing troops in the patrol camp was already low. If it weren't for the Beiyang troops' support behind them, they would have run away long ago. Now, when they saw that there were suddenly several machine guns on the city gate, they were so scared that they ran back.
A moment later, the Maxim heavy machine gun squad followed up breathlessly. As soon as the machine gun squad set up the tripod, the machine gunner pulled the bolt and pulled the trigger. The long canvas belt shortened rapidly, and a terrible metal storm unfolded. When the first Maxim machine gun fired at full speed, the front of Wusheng Pass in the night was like being sprinkled with tens of thousands of flashing fireflies. Countless sparks formed beautiful and terrible lines of fire, rushing towards the retreating Qing army.
The power of the heavy machine gun was really terrifying. In addition, Wusheng Pass was a must-pass place for the Hanjing Railway. The railway passed through a tunnel in the middle of the pass. There were slopes more than ten meters high on both sides, and it was impossible to escape. The environment was almost like a shooting range, allowing the Maxim to exert its maximum destructive power.
7.92mm bullets kept shuttling through the flesh, stirring up blood and flesh, forming pieces and raining them down. Light machine guns also took advantage of the situation to pursue and fire fiercely, forming a dozen lines of death that covered the entire area in front of the pass in the blink of an eye. The patrol infantry who had just screamed and thought they had won the first merit could only run back desperately, regretting that they had not been born with a pair of wings. Only the Beiyang cavalry who were supervising the battle at the back saw that the situation was not good and moved away and ran away.
The battle did not last long. The patrol battalion that had brought a large number of weapons from Henan to support the remnants of Zhang Biao in Liujiamiao was frightened by the machine guns. The infantry regiment that came to support them did not even look at the shivering survivors in the pile of corpses, but rushed to the Qing army train and artillery positions farther away. When the water tank connected to the machine gun began to emit steam, the inexperienced machine gunners realized that they had actually used up two boxes of bullets in their nervousness, and the places that were swept were full of wounds.
Shi Xiaolou was also completely stunned. Such firepower might not be surprising in Europe, but in China at this moment, equipping each battalion with three Maxim machine gun squads was already luxurious! Not to mention the light machine guns! No wonder he and the surviving soldiers were completely petrified looking at the blood and flesh on the ground, and didn't even notice He Xi approaching them.
"My dear brother, I am He Xi, the commander of the 1st Regiment of the Right Route Army. I have been ordered to come to support you. You have worked hard! Thank you for defending Wusheng Pass!" After He Xi said this, he led all the officers and nearby soldiers to salute the garrisoned soldiers.
The courtesy and warm words of the soldiers made Shi Xiaolou and everyone else's eyes turn red. Before they could react, a box full of silver dollars was stuffed into their palms. "This is the salary that Zhang Biao withheld from everyone last month. Commander Yang knows that the brothers are short of money, and he said that no matter how hard it is, the soldiers who fought bravely in the battle cannot suffer, so he asked me to bring the salary owed and this month's salary together. Soldiers get five dollars each, officers get ten dollars, and the dead soldiers will have twenty dollars sent to their families."
Just now they encountered some soldiers running away, and they were about to die but suddenly the situation turned around, and then there was a gorgeous and cruel massacre. Before they could recover from all this, a box of warm money was stuffed into their hands. Shi Xiaolou and all the soldiers who stayed behind to garrison had a blank mind. They didn't even notice the words "Right Route Army" and "Regiment Commander". They all burst into tears as they looked at the glittering silver dollars.
Looking at the flames of the battle still going on in the distance, He Xi laughed and patted Shi Xiaolou on the shoulder: "Get up, we haven't finished fighting yet! Jiuli Pass and Pingjing Pass must be recaptured as soon as possible."
Shi Xiaolou stood up slowly, wiped away her tears, and nodded vigorously with her red eyes.
