Under the sky, the gray Gobi Desert intersects with the green and verdant pastures, like the dividing line between the two worlds. This is where the grasslands of the Gobi Desert and the southern slope of Yanran Mountain meet, and the vast grasslands are empty, with no herds of cattle and sheep, and no yurts dotted in between, as if this area has not been visited by humans since the flood and famine.

"Commander, less than 7,000 Russian Tatar cavalry are camped on the banks of the Ongin River 30 miles away."

Zuo Guigui stood solemnly in front of Lieutenant General Shi Dakai's horse, reporting the latest military information he had reconnoitred, while peeking at the sleepy army in front of him. To be honest, he had no doubts about victory until he saw this Ming cavalry. But now, his heart is really beating a drum, and this army is chasing too quickly, right? The horses have been exhausted and thin, and many stations are already unstable! Although this Mongolian horse is relatively leathery, it can't be used so ruthlessly......

"Dare to be a brother, have you ever caught up with the cavalry and horse team of the Russian Tartars? My men are waiting to get their heads beheaded by Cossacks! ”

A large man, with a Chinese face and a pair of thick eyebrows, a very manly major general rode his horse and shouted while smiling.

"Xixiang-kun, your people don't have to worry about no fighting!" Shi Dakai raised his horsewhip and pointed due west, "About 7,000 Russian and Tatar troops are in the village on the edge of the Wengjin River, and the war horses are scattered on the grassland, it seems that they are resting." ”

Now the number of the Russian-Tatar coalition army has decreased compared with the time when it passed through Wuweibao, and in the rapid march for many days, the Russian-Tatar coalition army has fallen behind to a certain extent, but mainly the Eight Banners. The Cossacks were left almost alone. The same. The cavalry commanded by Shi Dakai and Saigo Takayong also had many left behind. Now the number of people who drive to the foot of Yanran Mountain is only more than 6,500. The phenomenon of falling behind is much more serious than that of the Russian Tatar coalition army - the main reason why there are so many fallen behind is that the war horses are not used and maintained well, and they are tired and sick a lot, and the mounted infantry without horses can naturally only wait for the follow-up troops to come to shelter or march in heavy wagons, and the officers and soldiers are also extremely tired.

Shi Dakai turned his head to look at Zuo Guigui again, "Little brother, how many days have they been resting?" ”

"It's been almost two days." Zuo Guigui replied. He paused for a moment and added, "However, the condition of the Russian Tartar war horses seems to be much better than the war horses of the adults' subordinates. It can still be used if you raise it. ”

The meaning of this sentence is that the war horses of Shi Dakai's department have been scrapped, and they can't be raised, so they can only be slaughtered as military rations!

"Yes, he still understands cavalry!" Shi Dakai smiled and nodded, "After this battle, come under my hands, and I'll give you a cavalry company commander to do." ”

"Thank you, sir." Zuo Guigui bowed and thanked him without humility or arrogance. But I thought in my heart: "I don't know if this stone lieutenant general will live to the end of this battle." Can a cavalry that runs away with all its horses defeat the Cossacks who are famous on the continent?

Shi Dakai waved his hand, signaled Zuo Guigui to go down and rest, and then immediately discussed the military situation with Saigo Takayong.

"Tonight or tomorrow morning?" Shi Dakai asked in a low voice.

"Probably tonight!" Saigo said, "If I were the commander of the Russian Tatar cavalry, I would never miss tonight." We've come from afar. People are sleepy, and it is the weakest time! If we were all cavalry. It is impossible to fight at all, just so it is convenient for them to attack at night. ”

"That's right, cavalry fights on horseback, and dismounting is worse than ordinary hand-to-hand combat." Shi Da laughed, "But we are not cavalry, but mounted infantry!" You can fight as well as you get off the horse! ”

"That's a tough battle, too!" Saigo Takanaga showed a look of eagerness, "After all, this is a grassland, and the visibility at night is poor, our rifles can't shoot far, and the team is too tired." ”

"Then let the troops hurry up and rest, and gather all the remaining carts to set up a phalanx."

Shi Dakai said in a deep voice, his troops came lightly, did not carry construction tools, did not bring barbed wire, and could not set up a hard village, so they could only use some baggage vehicles to form a phalanx and encircle the soldiers and horses inside. And because the number of carriages is insufficient, the car formation can't be connected to the first tail, and the thin ones are really a bit out of shape.

And at the same time that more than 6,500 people under Shi Dakai's command began to rest, on an unknown high ground in the distance. There were several people standing on horseback, watching them carefully with binoculars.

"This is not a real cavalry! Actually ruined the war horse like this......"

Rossovsky put down his binoculars and shook his head. He originally thought that he would have at least 10 days to rest, but he didn't expect that the Ming army would catch up in less than 3 days. When he heard the report of the scout cavalry, he was really taken aback, but he didn't expect to see a staggering cavalry when he came over in person.

"Your Excellency, Major General, have you noticed that these rebellious cavalrymen are equipped with foreign guns! Even if they don't ride horses, they can fight in array with foreign guns, right? ”

Fu Fang looked carefully and had already found the Dresser firing pin guns carried by these Ming soldiers. However, he didn't know that this rifle was a breech gun, and he thought it was an ordinary Besse Mai rifle.

"The Ming army's Bese Maiyang guns have a long range, and they can accurately hit high-speed cavalry from a distance of 400 paces."

Of course, this statement is a bit exaggerated, 400 steps is almost 600 meters, even the infantry of the Jinyi Guards not everyone has this kind of good marksmanship. However, at a distance of 400 paces, it is still powerful to use the Besemai rifle to shoot the platoon gun. So after the appearance of this type of rifle and the mass equipment of the French army, the French cavalry had basically abandoned the tactics of frontal assault on enemy infantry groups. However, the Russian cavalry still retains this tactic, which may be outdated.

"Oh, so they're dragoons, so they're afraid to run their horses to death!" Rosovsky said in a deep voice. Mounted infantry is not an unusual branch in Europe, dating back to the Italian War of 1552-1559, when the French first invented the infantry by putting musketeers on horseback. In Europe, they were also known as dragoons. However, the Ming Dynasty does not have the title of "dragoon" here, after all, the emperor Lao Tzu is the true dragon son of heaven, and the dragon has a special representative significance in China.

"Let's test their reality first." Rossovsky ordered, "Fu, send 500 cavalry to harass them." ”

As soon as the military order was given, 500 Eight Banners Qing cavalry quickly drove to the vicinity of the Ming army's vehicle array, and did not dare to get too close, and scattered into four teams 2 miles away, and began to circle around the car formation, and the sporadic gunfire soon rang out, and the Eight Banners horse team began to use the smoothbore guns in their hands to conduct harassing shooting.

The smoothbore guns in their hands were Russian-made, and they were cavalry-type smoothbore guns with a truncated barrel that could be reloaded on horseback. However, because they were afraid of the artillery of the Ming army, they fired from 2 miles away, and there was no threat to the Ming army at all, it was purely disturbing people's rest. However, after harassing for a while, the Ming troops in the car formation did not respond, except for a few people who were on guard, most of the officers and soldiers were either eating or sleeping. Nor did anyone shoot at the Eight Banners who couldn't be hit at all from 2 miles away.

"It's so calm, it seems to be an elite troop." Rosovsky held up the telescope and observed for a while, and concluded, "Although there are only more than 6,000, it is not easy to deal with." Fu, I want to fight a night attack, what do you think? ”

"Night raids, cavalry?"

Rosovsky nodded: "That's right, it's cavalry, because we only have cavalry in our hands." Let's do it tonight, while they are sleepy! Besides, the terrain here is the most suitable steppe for cavalry combat, and the enemy has not dug trenches to hold back horses, nor has barbed wire—I suspect they did not carry those things at all. So tonight, we're going to break through their phalanx with cavalry and wipe them all out! ”

As he spoke, he glanced at Fu Fang with sharp eyes. Fu Fang immediately said: "Your Excellency, your Excellency, tonight's first battle will be fought by our Eight Banners!" ”

Rosovsky nodded with satisfaction, his Cossacks are very precious, it is better to stay in the back if he does not fight, and these Tatars are the cannon fodder. (To be continued......)