The sun never sets

The Russian army rushed in and retreated again. Except for the greater casualties on both sides, everything happened the same as before, except that they went a little deeper this time.

When Wang Qi saw the enemy leaving behind corpses and wounded soldiers and fleeing in panic, he knew that the enemy's artillery attack was about to come again, so he shouted: "Everyone go into the anti-artillery cave! Leave two people outside to stand guard!"

Marshal Alfred von Waldersee had already finished his breakfast and was watching the battle with his generals. When they saw the Russian army beating the enemy into a panic, several generals cheered, "We have won another brilliant victory."

Some people also suggested that cavalry could be deployed. The Eight-Nation Alliance had robbed a lot of cattle and horses in North China. Even if the railway was seized, they could rely on livestock for transportation, but they did not have many cavalry. When Waldersee was in Beijing before, he heard that tens of thousands of Tatar cavalry appeared around him. He was a little worried, not because he was afraid of not being able to win, but because he was worried that his spoils would be lost.

A smile appeared on Waldersee's face. Just as he was about to say something, someone suddenly exclaimed, "Oh my God!"

That British reporter again? Waldersee knew without even looking that it was Morrison who was so rude. But when he raised his telescope to look at the battlefield again, he saw a group of Russian soldiers.

Running away at full speed.

Damn, this is too much of a lie, isn't it? Where is the promised "European gendarme"? Where is the promised "steamroller"?

Alfred von Waldersee had a lot of complaints about the Russians. The German Junkers hated the cheap Russian food. As a member of the Junker nobility, Marshal Waldersee, like other Junkers, also hated the Russians, but he did not expect the Russian army to be so lame. Yesterday, it could be said that it was almost dark and the artillery was not well prepared. What about today? The performance of the Russian army was simply a disgrace to the imperialist family!

If an equal number of German troops had attacked, they would have taken it yesterday evening!

"report!"

After the guard came in, he delivered the latest information to the marshal. Alfred von Waldersee took it, took a look at it, and immediately lay down on the map to look for the location.

"Marshal, what happened?"

"Lieutenant William discovered a large-scale enemy force thirty miles to the south. The number of troops...is at least over 30,000!"

Chapter 111: Encircled

If it was 30,000 Boxers using swords and spears, then there would not be much threat. After the heavy machine guns and rapid-fire cannons appeared, the firepower gradually overwhelmed the manpower. But what if they were also equipped with foreign guns and cannons?

Alfred von Waldersee did not want that to happen, and neither did anyone else.

"Tell Schweik to send more cavalry and hunters out to conduct a thorough investigation. I need more detailed intelligence!"

"Yes!"

The Russians collapsed, and then it was the British's turn to attack. The British army showed better discipline and discipline than the Russians. They used better weapons and had a higher shooting accuracy. The lobster soldiers changed their formations like flowing water, unlike the Russians who always had people unable to find their positions.

But these things are useless in front of machine guns and rapid-fire cannons. The lobster soldiers made a beautiful appearance, but their performance was not much better than that of the gray animals. The current machine guns are too heavy to follow the infantry. For the British soldiers marching to the battlefield, their only support is the rifle in their hands. There are many companions beside them, which can bring them some comfort.

A few shells landed in the British ranks, knocking over some men, but the casualties were not great. French Miss 75s, German Krupp, and other artillery fired at the opposite targets to provide fire support. As for what they could hit, only God knew.

The British soldiers were well-trained and their volleys were fast and accurate. The Lee-Enfield rifles in their hands were the fastest-firing rifles in the world. However, the rebels had the bonus of trenches, as well as machine guns and rapid-fire cannons to provide fire support. During the exchange of fire, the British soldiers were knocked down row by row. The rebel soldiers hid in the trenches. They could only see and hear their companions falling down, but could not see the casualties of the enemy.

Being able to take a beating without being able to fight back was very demoralizing. After suffering hundreds of casualties, the British army was no longer able to fire volleys. Although they continued to advance while firing, everyone could see that the British army was already in a panic.

After a while of shooting, an officer finally gave the order to "charge". The soldiers, already numb from the torture, formed a conditioned reflex and charged forward with shouts. A large group of lobster soldiers ran forward like crazy, and were torn to pieces by the oncoming bullets and shells.

As soon as one wave of lobster soldiers was eliminated, another wave rushed over.

The weather at the end of August was neither cool nor hot. The Russian soldiers who died yesterday had already changed color, and there was a smell of decay within 200 meters in front of the trench. Countless wounded British soldiers fell to the ground screaming, blood gushing out of their broken bodies, making the smell of scarlet and rust in the air even stronger.

Finally, after suffering heavy casualties, the British army fought their way into the trenches and entered the stage of hand-to-hand combat.

The sound of metal colliding, the dull sound of bayonets stabbing into human bodies, the screams of soldiers after being injured... Time seemed to be stretched like dough. Xu Wuji felt that the world had become bizarre. He had long used up the six bullets in the gun, and he didn't know where he had thrown his saber. Now he was holding a rifle in his hand and was doing familiar movements.

Buzz buzz buzz... Ang ang ang ang... Gurgle gurgle gurgle... Xu Wuji ran around in a dizziness, knocking down his enemies one by one, until suddenly a familiar yet unfamiliar cheer rang out, and he woke up from that bizarre world.

"Captain, we won!"

"The English are no better than that!"

"Long live Marshal Lin!"

"Long live the principal!"

Xu Wuji felt a burning pain in his chest and throat. He wanted to cheer along, but his throat hurt badly. He wanted to jump for joy, but found that his hands and feet were so sore that he couldn't even hold the rifle in his hands and dropped it to the ground.

"Snapped!"

Alfred von Waldersee dropped the glass in his hand, spilling the bright red wine all over the floor. He was not angry about the British retreat, but because he heard another bad news.

"A large number of Boxers were discovered in the direction of Shahe Village, tens of thousands of them!"

The officers were in an uproar. Shahe Village was in the west. There were tens of thousands of enemy troops in the south before, and now they were coming from the west too. Add to that the Chinese in the east who liked to hide in the ground. So the only side without enemies was the north?

Morrison had long felt something was wrong, and now he had received news

His panic grew even worse, and he grabbed a British officer, "We'll be fine, right?"

"If there were no enemies in the north..."

"Report! Large-scale enemy forces spotted in the north!"

Morrison's mind was buzzing. Even if he didn't understand military affairs, he knew the situation was not good. There were night raiders in front, behind, and on both sides: six-nine-four-nine, three-six-one-three-five enemies. There was no way up to the sky, no way down to the earth. This... this... this was surrounded, wasn't it?

"Why are there so many enemies?"

Marshal Alfred von Waldersee stood up and shouted in a panic: "Impossible, this is absolutely impossible!"

The other officers were even more furious. One officer stepped forward and grabbed the guard by the collar, "You are lying!"

The guard stuttered and defended himself: "No...I'm not...I didn't..."

His voice was drowned out by the quarrel. After hearing that they were surrounded, many people panicked. It was not uncommon for elite troops to be defeated by barbaric natives. Just two years before the Second Opium War, more than 20,000 lobster soldiers were almost wiped out in Afghanistan.

Is it possible that such a tragedy in the civilized world will happen again in China?

Although the Eight-Nation Alliance now has more troops than the British army did that time, there are also more Chinese than Afghans!

We had just conquered the capital of the Far East's largest empire and obtained more treasure than we could spend in a lifetime. We should have happily returned home to enjoy a wonderful life, but how come we were suddenly surrounded by barbarians?

"Attack! We must use more violent attacks to open a path forward!"

An Austro-Hungarian officer shouted in French: "For God's sake, before they come around!"

"It's no use going to Tianjin, it's already fallen!"

"What? Such a thing actually happens?"

"What? You don't know?"

"Quiet! Everyone be quiet!"

Alfred von Waldersee shouted, as loud as an old man could, "Silence!"

The buzzing discussion gradually subsided, and everyone looked at the commander-in-chief with bated breath. Many people were dissatisfied with Germany's behavior of taking away the commander-in-chief without sending many troops. The British and Russian armies were very dissatisfied, but there was nothing they could do, because the German army was the "strongest army" in the world today.

Many people privately laughed at Waldersee for not knowing how to fight a war, but at this point, everyone could only place their hopes on this old man.

Chapter 112: Front and Back Attack

Alfred von Waldersee knew that he should calm everyone down, but he didn't know what to do next. Although he was a Junker nobleman and had fought in the army all his life, he had never led troops. Coming to China was his first time to gain military command. Before he arrived in Tianjin, the most difficult battle had already been fought.

Tianjin was captured, Nie Shicheng was killed in battle, and Alfred von Waldersee didn't have to do anything after he arrived. He just had to attack. I can do that too!

No one had expected to be surrounded by ten times more barbarians in the Far East, let alone Waldersee. What should he do now? According to what he had learned in military school, the best way now was to throw away the "burdens" in the team, go into battle lightly, and rush out from the place where the enemy's forces were weak.

But Alfred von Waldersee was absolutely unwilling to do so. Even if he was willing to throw away countless treasures, the officers and soldiers would not be willing to do so.

He paused too long, and there were signs of unrest in the crowd again, so Waldersee could only say: "We need to attack!"

Of course they had to attack, because that was what the Germans were best at. The question was, in which direction?

Waldersee felt as if he had returned to the days of military school, and he could not think of an answer to the instructor's questions. After all, I am not Bismarck, he thought, and when he was about to give up, he suddenly had an idea and blurted out, "We can go to Shandong!"

As if a key had been unlocked, the four routes in Waldersee's mind became clearer and clearer. He said confidently: "We will attack southward. Yuan Shikai is in Shandong. As long as he launches an attack, things will get better."

"Going to Shandong?"

"It seems...it's not impossible."

"this is a good idea."

Yuan Shikai, the governor of Shandong, had suppressed hundreds of thousands of Taiping troops and was praised by all Westerners in China as a good man. In a moment of desperation, Waldersee thought of the "good man" Yuan Shikai and thought that the Chinese should be used to deal with the Chinese. Now there were enemy troops everywhere, which really frightened him.

Everyone else said this was a good idea, only Morrison was skeptical, but he didn't have any good ideas, so he could only listen. Even if he had a good idea, no one would believe him, because he was not an officer.

Waldersee's face flushed as he shouted, "Gather all the cavalry. Once we defeat the enemy in the south, they will charge out. Go to Shandong to find Master Yuan Shikai and let him deal with the Chinese."

"Then what do we do?"

"Of course we should defend on the spot! I discovered yesterday that the enemy is so difficult to deal with because they rely on trenches. If the enemy can use it, we can use it too! Let the soldiers go.

Dig trenches, and if the enemy attacks, have the soldiers stand in the trenches and shoot. "

Morrison suddenly realized that Marshal Waldersee was worthy of being the German Field Marshal, as he saw the essence of the matter at a glance.

The generals also offered suggestions, "Not enough shovels? Then use bayonets!"

"Put all the carriages in the center!"

"It seems the enemy has more than one trench."

"Then dig two!"

Some people disagreed, "Maybe the enemies on the other three sides are very weak. We can fight them first and see."

Alfred von Waldersee agreed to the suggestion of fighting first. In order to confuse the enemy, Waldersee sent 1000 British and 1000 French troops to launch a tentative attack to the west. The battle was relatively smooth at the beginning. After defeating several groups of Boxers, the coalition forces encountered the same situation as in the east.

There are several deep gullies on the earth, which are the wonders of nature.

The French and British armies were a little afraid of those gullies, although they did not seem to have as many as those in the east, but... just as they were hesitating, the ground began to tremble, and a large group of Mongolian cavalry came from behind.

Tens of thousands of horse hooves struck the ground, and three thousand [Mongol cavalry] swept across the land like a gust of wind, charging at the coalition forces. At the same time, dense crowds of people emerged from the trenches and villages, and also launched an attack.

The coalition forces were shocked to find that they were caught in a pincer attack from both sides, and many soldiers immediately became panicked.

"Steady, steady!"

"Line up!"

"Fire!"

Affected by the surprise attack, the coalition's volleys were sparse, hitting only a few dozen cavalrymen and horses. Then, the cavalry rushed into the ranks and cut down many British and French troops. The two sides fought each other, and the scene was very chaotic. When the rebels from the north joined in, the battlefield became even more chaotic.

The one who led the cavalry to arrive in time was naturally Lin Yongchang. The battlefield was one-way transparent to him. He had already discovered when the coalition forces separated a part of their forces and marched north. At first, he thought that the Eight-Nation Alliance wanted to bypass the front of the trench and launch an attack from the right wing, that is, the left wing of the Eight-Nation Alliance.

Later, he found that the 2,000 coalition troops had been heading north. Although he didn't understand why the enemy did this and actually pulled more than ten miles away from the coalition headquarters, he didn't want to miss the opportunity since it had already appeared. So he personally led 3,000 [Mongol cavalry] to attack the enemy from behind. Judging from the enemy's reaction, they probably hadn't expected this at all.

Swords and knives are blind on the battlefield. Marshal Lin is not strong enough to resist bullets. If he is killed by a stray bullet, it would be too worthless. So Lin Yongchang stayed far away from the center of the battlefield and let his Mongolian cavalry kill people.

Even in the melee, the British and French armies still showed considerable strength. Some officers tried to gather the soldiers in the melee. In comparison, both the rebel army and the Mongolian cavalry were not as well organized as them, and they fought on their own after the melee.

战况一度陷入焦灼，双方的交换比1.1:0.9上维持了很长一段时间，差不多打了个平手。但是随着战斗的持续，联军兵力不足的后果就显现出来了。交换比讯速地从1.1:0.9飙升至3:1，然后是4:1,联军的士气也讯速地崩溃了。

When one person started to run away, the second one followed, and the third one followed. Then everyone lost their minds and ran in the direction they came from. The warriors who were fighting desperately with the enemy the moment before turned into cowards who only knew how to run for their lives the next moment. But how could infantry outrun cavalry?

The Mongolian cavalry chased after them from behind, chopped down the colorfully dressed enemies, or lassoed them. To Lord Lin, a living foreigner was worth two dollars, but a dead one was only worth one dollar.

PS:

英军——【士气：10.40；训练度：115%；职业度：65%；陆军传统：72%；战术：4.3】

法军——【士气：10.12；训练度：110%；职业度：44%；陆军传统：55%；战术：4.3】

The colonial army's statistics have been weakened.

Chapter 113: All-out Offensive

The enemy's reinforcements arrived quickly, so Lin Yongchang decided to withdraw his cavalry. In the end, only less than 400 people of the small force used by the Eight-Nation Alliance to test the enemy escaped. Looking at the Eight-Nation Alliance slowly retreating in the distance, Lin Yongchang had no other choice.

The impact of cavalry is very strong, and it is very useful to deal with infantry in chaos. But it is only the impact wave that is very powerful. If it gets into a melee, its combat effectiveness will be greatly weakened. After all, war horses are not tanks. They will bleed, get injured, and die if they are hit by bullets. In the battle a moment ago, the [Mongol Iron Cavalry] lost more than 50 people when charging, and nearly 100 people were killed and wounded in the melee, and this was when they launched a surprise attack and had the help of infantry.

If he charged headfirst, he might gain greater results, but the loss of cavalry would be huge. He would not do that unless it was a critical moment. Cavalry could only be used at critical moments. Moreover, he did not have too many cavalry. If he had 10,000 [Mongol Iron Cavalry], he would probably still adopt the tactic of "defensive counterattack". The Eight-Nation Alliance would not be able to defeat him.

There will be no cavalry, but it will definitely be more radical than it is now, and there will be more choices.

Seeing the defeated troops fleeing back in panic, Alfred von Waldersee looked stunned, while the other generals and officers were shocked. 2000 people went out, and only so many returned? After discovering that their troops were surrounded, many people were a little panicked, and now the panic was magnified tenfold.

"My God!"

"God forgive us!"

"We should follow Marshal Waldersee's plan. Blindly attacking will only waste our limited forces."

The man who proposed it earlier thought: Obviously the troops sent were too few. But now the crowd was excited, he could only bow his head and remain silent. Since the tentative attack failed, then we should prepare according to the marshal's plan.

At this time, the sun was about to set below the horizon. It was not a good time to fight, and the plan to send cavalry to break out should be implemented tomorrow. However, Alfred and others were worried that the Chinese would dig more trenches tomorrow, so they all agreed to set off now.