Volume 2: Famous all over the world Chapter 5: Blood and Fire Wusheng Pass (Part 2)
The steam train, which traveled at a speed of less than 20 kilometers per hour, took six hours to finally bring Yang Qiu to the foot of Wusheng Pass. As soon as they got off the train, the atmosphere of war that hit them in the face made Ke Shao, Yu Dehai and others who met them on the road nervous.
Hundreds of wounded soldiers who had been evacuated from Wusheng Pass gathered here. A few medical soldiers bandaged them while preparing to return to Hanyang. The hired doctors also moved the bodies of the soldiers here during the truce. The young faces with closed eyes, the bodies with broken limbs and burnt bodies made the soldiers from the three battalions who came from Jingshan grit their teeth.
On the stretcher, a soldier whose thigh was torn by shrapnel kept wailing, and the sound made everyone more nervous. The medical recruit next to him was probably frightened by the blood, and his movements were slow and clumsy. Upon seeing this, Yang Qiu immediately came over, took out morphine and hemostatic drugs, quickly scraped off the sticky materials near the wound, and after stopping the bleeding, he personally sutured the wound. His skillful handling technique stunned several medical soldiers, and the wound was sutured again in just a few minutes.
“Don’t be nervous! Be careful and courageous. The more nervous you are and the longer it takes, the more the soldiers will suffer!” Yang Qiu patted the young medical recruit and walked towards Wusheng Pass under the grateful gaze of the wounded soldiers. When he was about to reach the pass, dull explosions sounded again from everywhere. The yellow smoke in the morning light quickly reminded him of the dangerous underground gunpowder. He immediately ordered his men to cover their mouths and noses with towels dipped in water before moving forward.
After arriving at Wusheng Pass, we were faced with a hellish scene. There was no intact city wall to be seen in the huge pass. Instead, there were rubbles blown up by artillery shells everywhere, and uncleaned body parts and dried bloodstains were everywhere on the ground.
Beiyang used the typical German firepower first tactics. The two artillery battalions were at an angle and fired non-stop at the three passes. The infantry took advantage of the intervals between the artillery fire to eat breakfast and prepare. After yesterday's confrontation, the soldiers stationed here were somewhat accustomed to the artillery tactics. They each looked for cover and spread out their positions. The reserve troops hid at the base of the wall or in places where the shells could not reach, ready to meet the challenge of the Beiyang infantry at any time.
The command post was located in a blind spot on the right side of the mountain wall of the city wall. This was also the place with the largest number of reserve troops. When the reserve soldiers who were preparing saw the much-anticipated commander of the right-wing army personally leading his troops to support them, they immediately cheered, and the soldiers of a regiment saluted in unison.
When they reached the door, He Xi had already led Shi Xiaolou and other officers out. Yang Qiu almost didn't recognize him, who had been stationed here for nearly half a month. This commander, nicknamed the Smiling Buddha, had obviously lost weight. He had a layer of short hair on his bald head, his face was full of stubble, his clothes were wrinkled and dirty, and his whole body was soaked in the smell of gunpowder.
He Xi was surprised and happy to see Yang Qiu: "Commander, why are you here?"
"You are all my soldiers. I will naturally come to support you if there is any danger." These simple words warmed the hearts of the officers. Even Wu Zhaolin and the officers of the Left Route 1st Brigade sniffed. They did not expect that the first support soldier would be Yang Qiu, who was previously criticized for trying to split the revolution. Shi Xiaolou even stepped forward and saluted, "Shi Xiaolou of the Fourth Battalion greets the commander."
"Shi Xiaolou, graduated from the Military Academy, and later studied command at the Japanese Army Academy." Yang Qiu smiled and extended his hand: "Thank you for faithfully carrying out orders and ensuring that Wusheng Pass has not been lost so far, giving us ample time to prepare! It is you who saved tens of millions of Hubei people! The Right Route Army needs officers like you, welcome to join."
In just a few words, he brought an outstanding young officer into the right-wing army system, and Wu Zhaolin also admired his methods. After greeting everyone, Yang Qiu immediately went into the command center. Because it was too small, he simply removed the table and sat on the floor.
"Xiaolou, please introduce yourself to me." Yang Qiu mentioned Shi Xiaolou as soon as he opened his mouth, obviously considering his ability.
Shi Xiaolou began to introduce yesterday's battle situation very neatly: "The artillery battle started in the afternoon. According to the reconnaissance of the forward scouts and the calculation of the density of artillery shells, two artillery battalions should have been deployed. Half an hour after the shelling, they launched an infantry attack, deploying about two battalions to attack the three passes simultaneously. The regiment commander and Wu Xietong had guessed that the Beiyang might bombard Wusheng Pass to support and cover the infantry to take Jiuli Pass and Pingjing Pass on both sides before attacking from both sides. Therefore, two battalions and a Maxim machine gun were deployed on both sides to prevent the Beiyang from succeeding."
"Before they could take the two sides, they directed all their firepower at us. The main attack began after dinner, with six machine guns deployed, and they did not retreat until midnight last night. This morning, we counted and found that more than 600 Beiyang soldiers were killed, more than 700 of us died, and 300 were injured, most of them were..." Shi Xiaolou glanced at Wu Zhaolin and continued, "We and Wu Xietong's new recruits are inexperienced, and most of them will run around when scared by the shells."
"The damage to the weapons is quite serious. Only three of the eight mountain cannons are still usable. Two heavy machine guns were damaged. Now we can only secure one each here and at Jiuli Pass. The light machine guns will be responsible for Pingjing Pass. The machine gunners are not skilled enough and the bullet consumption is quite high." Shi Xiaolou had clear ideas and outlined the general course of the battle in just a few sentences. Yang Qiugao took a look and asked, "What do you think is the biggest problem now?"
"As long as the city gate is not breached, the railway behind can deliver military supplies and bullets, so high consumption is not a problem. The biggest threat now is the Beiyang artillery! Wushengguan is a mountainous area, and the narrow terrain inside the city gate is not suitable for artillery movement. Moreover, the artillery shells we use are too different from those of the Beiyang." Shi Xiaolou held a Japanese artillery shell that had not exploded and had its fuse removed and placed it in the middle: "I saw this kind of artillery shell when I was studying in Japan. It was produced in the Nagoya Arsenal and loaded with a new gunpowder. It is much more powerful than the Hanyang-made artillery. After the artillery shell is smashed, it will emit poisonous yellow smoke, and the flame is not easy to extinguish. Half of the brothers who died yesterday were burned to death."
"It's Shimase gunpowder." Yang Qiu looked at the shells, put them down and said, "I have asked Hanyang to produce a new type of gunpowder, which should be more powerful than this, but it will take five days at the earliest to get the first batch of shells."
Wu Zhaolin was slightly stunned when he heard this. He didn't expect Yang Qiu to know about explosives and could make something more powerful than Japanese gunpowder. Shi Xiaolou didn't have so many thoughts. He was very happy to know that he would also have new gunpowder. Even if it was not as strong as Japan's, as long as it was guaranteed to be equivalent, it would be enough. He immediately said, "It doesn't matter if we get it in five days. It won't be of much use to pull up the five-cell seven-gun now. The seven-cell five-gun is too heavy to be carried up. It's not as practical as a machine gun."
"Old He, Wei San." After Shi Xiaolou finished speaking, Yang Qiu immediately turned to He Xi. Ever since he stayed behind on the night of the first uprising, he had never called He Xi by his given name. He always called him Old He, which made people feel much more intimate. "You are old officers. There are no outsiders here. I want to ask you how many days do you think you can hold on?"
"The Beiyang artillery is too powerful. If there is no reinforcement, I think the worst that can happen is ..." He Xi glanced at Wu Zhaolin and raised two fingers.
He Xi originally thought that Yang Qiu would be dissatisfied with this number, because he had promised to hold out for 20 days. However, Yang Qiu was not dissatisfied but admired his honesty. He immediately said to Yu Dehai and Ke Shao who were bowing their heads: "Don't take Jingshan's matter to heart. The order was issued by me and it has nothing to do with you. As a soldier, the most important thing is to fight well and protect Hubei!"
"Jingshan? What happened in Jingshan?" Wu Zhaolin asked.
"It's nothing serious." Yang Qiu didn't want to talk about it any more, and continued to say to the two: "Divide the three battalions and the direct companies you brought with you into two detachments, and immediately support Jiuli Pass and Pingjing Pass."
Seeing that Yang Qiu did not punish them, the two men's anxiety disappeared and they immediately led the troops to support the two passes. After they left, the explosions outside suddenly became more frequent. Yang Qiu, who was familiar with tactics, understood that this should be a sign that the infantry was preparing to attack. After yesterday's confrontation, Beiyang must have felt the strength of the enemy. Whether it can hold out for a few more days depends on today! So he took over the command without hesitation. Wu Zhaolin also knew that today was the most critical day, and he cooperated and ordered the troops to obey his command.
It was the same routine as yesterday. After nearly an hour and a half of bombardment from 7 o'clock, the Beiyang Army sent two battalions to attack Jiuli Pass and Pingjing Pass, trying to take down the two passes and attack Wusheng Pass from the flank. However, they did not know that there was already an additional detachment at each of the two passes. The fierce machine gun fire pinned them on the hillside and they could not move. They had to turn around and attack Wusheng Pass again.
Wushengguan Pass was not big, and the enemy's artillery fire was so fierce that too many troops would only suffer. Perhaps Yang Qiu personally supervised the battle and boosted morale. Ji Fucheng and Shi Xiaolou took the lead in leading the third and fourth battalions to take the lead in the first wave of defense. After climbing up the city wall, the Beiyang infantry had already rushed along the hillsides on both sides of the railway line. When they ran within a thousand meters, the formation suddenly dispersed. The battalion attacking along the railway line below did not rush foolishly like the Henan patrol battalion before, but divided into two columns and rushed over carefully close to the rammed wall.
Since Hakan threatened to make a deal, Yang Qiu had to suppress his temper and stop, lying in the bunker and observing the battle situation through the artillery telescope.
Just as he expected, the Beiyang army was obviously prepared to fight to the death to capture Wusheng Pass today, so they gathered about three battalions of troops on the front line, and there were three more battalions behind them making preparations.
Sharp copper whistles replaced shouts. When they rushed to a distance of about 600 meters, the Beiyang infantry on the hillsides on both sides took the lead in making adjustments, and the troops dispersed into three lines of skirmishers. Compared with the skilled infantry, the accompanying machine gun team's tactics were still too old-fashioned. They carried the Maxim machine guns to the front and concentrated their fire to try to suppress the tower with firepower to cover the infantry, so Yang Qiu immediately pointed to the machine gun position, and the remaining three five-seven mountain cannons threw all the shells over.
The rumbling sound of the explosion forced the Beiyang machine gun team to retreat temporarily, but the Beiyang infantrymen who lost the cover of the machine guns did not stop, and still skillfully used the trees and bunkers on the hillside to advance. They kept their bodies very low, and when they were about to enter the enemy's machine gun range, they crawled and pushed the gun forward to get closer.
The position of the second company of the third battalion on the hill on the left was located outside the city. There were no city walls here, so trenches were dug in advance. Hao Wenbao tightly gripped the handle of the Madsen machine gun and nervously watched more than 400 Beiyang soldiers spread out in a horizontal formation and rushing towards this side. When he was about to pull the trigger, he saw the enemies crawling and lying down one after another, so he stopped the action immediately.
As the machine gunners of the guard company, they were a group of elites trained by Yang Qiu himself, and they had a deeper understanding of the "Machine Gun Tactics Manual", so they knew that it was a waste of bullets to shoot the prone enemy at this distance. The infantry of the third battalion next to him had already opened fire, and the sound of the Hanyang rifles had become so dense that it drilled straight into his ears, but he did not pull the trigger, which made many soldiers look at him in surprise.
After patiently waiting, the opportunity finally came. When a whistle sounded, these Beiyang soldiers suddenly stood up, bent over and rushed upward. Hao Wenbao pulled the trigger almost at the same time. Hoo hoo... Hoo hoo... Although the three-round burst was not fast, it became the enemy's nightmare. Soldiers who were rushing forward were constantly hit and fell to the ground.
The light machine guns suddenly opened fire, creating a barrage of bullets, and soon more than a dozen Beiyang soldiers who were in the front were mowed down. More enemy soldiers were frightened when they saw the light machine guns supporting them, and they climbed down again.
At this moment, a Beiyang officer wearing a red hat suddenly straightened up in the flying bullets. Although it was unclear what he was shouting, the sight of him drawing his sword and waving it immediately aroused the ferocity of the Beiyang infantry. More than a hundred Beiyang soldiers rushed towards the position shouting, and even the machine gun team that had just retreated found cover again to cooperate with the infantry in the charge.
The power of the heavy machine gun gradually erupted, raising dust in the trench in front of Hao Wenbao. The debris in the tiny dust columns made his cheeks hurt. Although he and another machine gunner from the second company tried their best to suppress the fire and fired one magazine after another, the light machine gun's inherent deficiency made it unable to completely stop the rushing enemy. By the time the heavy machine gun stopped firing, this wave of Beiyang soldiers had already rushed to within 50 meters.
"Bayonet!"
The Third Battalion was an old unit of the regiment. Although it was inferior to the four battalions originally formed by the 42nd Regiment and the Security Team, it was also enraged by the enemy's desperate fighting style. The commander of the Second Company was a young man in his early twenties. Seeing that the vanguard of the Beiyang Army had arrived, he simply drew his command knife and was the first to jump out of the trench and launch a counterattack.
More than a hundred soldiers from the second company jumped out of the bunker like tigers and launched a counterattack with hand-to-hand combat. It was the first time that Yang Qiu, who was in the bunker, saw this kind of fighting style. In his era, hand-to-hand combat was extremely rare. He only saw the soldiers firing a bullet as they jumped out of the trenches, and then rushed forward with bayonets pointed.
On one side were the elite Beiyang troops who wanted to seize the position and attack the city gate from the side, and on the other side were the soldiers of the Second Company who gritted their teeth and defended the city to the death. It was like two waves of floods colliding head-on, and the most intense visual impact burst out in an instant. Bayonets were sharp, gun butts were flying, and large streams of blood gushed out from the stabbed places. Even intestines could be seen flowing out of the wounds. The soldiers were all bloodshot, and the only thing left in their minds was life and death.
The " Machine Gun Tactical Manual" prohibits machine gunners from participating in hand-to-hand combat, but it also lists what to do if encountering such a situation. So Hao Wenbao immediately called on the machine gunners of the second company to jump out of the trenches and move to both sides, and then use oblique shooting to help the infantry block the Beiyang soldiers following behind.
Two lines of fire cut the Beiyang infantry apart. The Beiyang soldiers who launched the charge in the front were gradually unable to stop the attack due to lack of support. With the sound of a whistle, they began to retreat. Just when Yang Qiu breathed a sigh of relief, a group of fireballs suddenly covered the position of the Second Company. The Second Company, which had just repelled the enemy and had no time to retreat into the trenches to avoid it, almost suffered the most tragic losses.
This scene almost made Yang Qiu dare not to watch any further. The sharp Beiyang artillery seized a good opportunity. When the artillery fire ended, the entire position was filled with corpses. Only half of the more than 100 soldiers in the second company escaped in time, and the rest were all killed by artillery shells.
The experience of the Second Company was almost a microcosm of the entire battlefield. Although Wusheng Pass was easy to defend but difficult to attack, just like in the parallel world, the Beiyang artillery had a huge advantage and the pass was an extremely obvious target, so the troops that were sent up would be bombarded by artillery shells almost as soon as they repelled the enemy, and the number of casualties was increasing rapidly at an alarming rate.
The brutal battle lasted until the evening. After suffering nearly a thousand casualties, the last batch of Beiyang soldiers finally began to retreat exhausted. After Hao Wenbao fired his last burst of shots and knocked down a limping Beiyang soldier, the entire Wusheng Pass was almost bathed in blood, and flames flowed continuously on every inch of land.
