The sun never sets

Kawamura Jingming chanted the Buddha's name. He understood why Oyama Iwao said that the situation must be worse than he thought. How many people died? Ten thousand? Or twenty thousand? Or more? The Japanese army under Vladivostok also suffered heavy casualties, but at that time the Japanese army was in an offensive state. Although it was also difficult, they still had the spare capacity to deal with the bodies and treat the wounded. The situation in Khasanski was extremely bad, but he could not care so much.

But no matter what, using the corpses of one's own soldiers who died in battle to build barriers is too tragic and too demoralizing.

In addition to the many corpses outside the city, there were also hundreds of Japanese corpses standing on the sea in the distance. They were all lost on the icy sea at night and frozen to death. Going around the sea was a bad idea. Soldiers carrying only rifles could only play a limited role and could not cut off the Chinese retreat. The harassment effect was only symbolic. They soon lost their combat effectiveness due to hunger and cold.

Nearly half of the troops sent out turned into ice sculptures on the sea, and the rest almost all lost their combat effectiveness due to the cold. However, it cannot be said that their sacrifice was worthless. The Seventh Division of the People's Army realized that their retreat might be cut off, so they retreated more decisively.

The messenger rode over on horseback and shouted from a distance: "The enemy is retreating!"

"Let Akiyama Yoshifuru's cavalry give chase!" Oyama Iwao's voice sounded not far away, "Don't give them a chance to regroup!"

Akiyama Yoshifuru was the commander of the 1st Cavalry Brigade of the Japanese Army. He was called the father of modern cavalry of the Japanese Army. When fighting against the Russian Army in the vast land of Outer Northeast, the cavalry troops he led played a very important role. When the People's Government declared war on Japan, his troops had already penetrated deep into the rear of Primorsky Province.

After receiving the news that the retreat route was cut off, Akiyama Yoshifuru rushed back with his troops. However, because he had gone too deep into the enemy's territory, he received the news too late. The battle on Khasanski's side had already ended, and the 1st Cavalry Brigade had just arrived.

"Please rest assured, Marshal. The First Cavalry Brigade will definitely annihilate all the enemy forces!"

Akiyama Yoshifuru solemnly said to Oyama Iwao: "I will use the blood of my enemies to wash away my shame!"

Five years ago, Akiyama Yoshifuru followed the army to Tianjin. When Marshal Lin led his troops to attack Tianjin, he was eating grilled fish in the fort at Dagukou. Seeing that Tianjin was breached, Akiyama Yoshifuru fled with hundreds of Japanese soldiers. This became one of the stains in his life, and people have been talking about it ever since.

When the People's Army defeated the Eight-Nation Alliance, the stains on Akiyama Yoshifuru were reduced. When the Chinese defeated the Russians, the ridicule and mockery of Akiyama Yoshifuru in the army disappeared, and many people began to say that Akiyama Yoshifuru was a great hero who saved hundreds of Japanese soldiers and brought back the news, although it was of no use.

After the Russo-Japanese War broke out, Akiyama Yoshifuru led his cavalry brigade to gallop across the vast land of Outer Northeast, beating the arrogant Russians into a mess and establishing his prestige in the army. Now that the Chinese have fled, Akiyama Yoshifuru decided to hack all the enemies to death on the icy land and completely wash away the shame on himself.

Dashanyan looked relaxed, "If you capture an enemy general, don't kill him, he will be useful if you keep him."

"I can't guarantee that I'll catch them alive, I can only say I'll try my best!"

The First Cavalry Brigade made a lot of contributions in Outer Northeast. Although they traveled hundreds of kilometers in the ice and snow, their morale was still very good. The horses lost a lot of weight in the continuous battles, and some of them died on the road one after another, but it was not a big problem. Cavalry had an absolute advantage against the fleeing enemies.

Akiyama Yoshifuru said goodbye to Marshal Oyama Iwao, mounted his horse, drew his saber, and shouted loudly: "First Cavalry Brigade, attack!"

It was already dark, and the last troops of the People's Army had withdrawn from the west gate of Khasanski. Xu Wuji carried a rifle and hung two revolvers on his waist, and loudly encouraged the soldiers, "We will attack to the west first.

Wait till....”

His ears moved, and a puzzled look appeared on his face. Cavalry? Cavalry's combat efficiency is not very high when it's dark, and it's cold and frozen. The People's Army has experience using cavalry at night, and at most it's only one-third of the combat efficiency during the day. It's okay for small-scale use, but the effect of using cavalry on a large scale at night is terrible.

The ground was shaking. The Japanese had at least dispatched two or three thousand cavalry. So many cavalrymen... well, the Japanese didn't care about casualties at all. They were capable of doing such a thing. Xu Wuji looked up at the moon in the sky. The moonlight was not very good today, but because the ground was covered with ice and snow, the visibility was not low.

"The Japanese army is really difficult to deal with!"

Xu Wuji muttered something, then shouted loudly, "The enemy has sent out cavalry! Everyone, speed up!"

Chapter 325 Crisis

Xu Wuji retreated with the last batch of troops. He didn't want to fight so hard, but how could he not fight hard when he encountered an enemy like the Japanese? At the beginning, the People's Army had an advantage in the shooting. Both the Mauser rifle and the Mosin-Nagant rifle were better than the Japanese light weapons. In terms of supporting firepower, the People's Army had mortars, while the Japanese only had grenades.

If the heavy artillery could not be pulled in, the Japanese howitzers would have been suppressed. But after entering the hand-to-hand combat stage, the People's Army could not gain any advantage. The bravery of the Japanese army was beyond imagination. The Japanese death squads with white cloth tied to their bodies refused to surrender even if there was only one person left. Some people even tied bombs on themselves and rushed forward to die together.

Xu Wuji was very surprised to see the Japanese army use the "human bomb charge". He thought that only the Chinese army during the Boxer Rebellion would use such crazy tactics, but he didn't expect to see it again here in the Japanese. At that time, China was facing the danger of national extinction and had to fight desperately. Now that the Japanese army's way back was blocked, it was time to fight desperately.

The Japanese army sent out cavalry to pursue, but Xu Wuji was not too worried. He stayed behind and left last, so he was not unprepared. He had only taken a few quick steps when violent explosions were heard in the city of Hasanski, with faint screams mixed in. Amid the successive explosions, flames were set ablaze in many places in the city, and then the flames got out of control and burned half of the city.

The city of Khasansky was just a walled area with a lot of firewood piled up inside. After being sprinkled with oil, it burned very quickly. Hearing the explosions and the lights coming on behind them, the soldiers cheered. However, Xu Wuji shouted loudly, "Go, go! Stop watching. Haven't you seen enough killing and arson?"

The delayed-action bombs were not high-tech. The explosion and flames could only stop the enemy for a while. After daybreak, the Japanese would catch up again. In the daytime, two legs could not outrun four legs. After freezing in the cold wind for a night, it was doubtful how much combat power the soldiers could have left. The weather was so cold, it was hard to say how many rifles could be pulled.

The soldiers were still excited for a while, and then they ran one after another into the darkness in the distance. The winter nights in Outer Northeast China were unusually cold. Everyone was shivering in the city of Khasansky, but it was even colder in the wild. Even if they had put on a full set of cold-resistant equipment and were still rushing on the road, they still couldn't stop their limbs from gradually becoming cold.

It didn’t take long for the hands and feet to lose feeling. This was worse than the stinging feeling, which was only the first step in freezing the body. Once the body lost feeling, the fingers and toes would freeze to death. Many soldiers who went on the Irkutsk expedition had their toes frozen off.

The fingers can be seen, so they can be rescued. When marching in the snow, people often don't take off their shoes for dozens of days, and they don't even know their toes are frozen. Xu Wuji was not worried about his toes, but whether he could get to Kraskino before the enemy cavalry caught up.

Before the Laolongshan blocking position, Kraskino was the last place to delay the Japanese army. There was a defense system similar to that of Khasansky, as well as warm barracks and steaming hot food. "Everyone, hurry up! Let's have some dumpling soup when we get there!"

The soldiers of the People's Army wanted to rush to Kraskino to drink the dumpling soup, but Akiyama Yoshifuru only wanted to catch up with the hateful Chinese and hack them all to death. The "gift" left by the Seventh Division killed and injured many Japanese cavalrymen. He himself was not injured, but his beloved warhorse was killed.

Before dawn, Akiyama Yoshifuru reorganized his troops, put out the fire in Khasanskiy, and chased after them with his cavalry. The fuel burned fiercely, but it couldn't last long. Khasanskiy wasn't big, so there weren't that many things to burn. The 1st Cavalry Brigade, covered in fireworks, chased after the footprints and wheel tracks left by the Chinese at a leisurely pace.

After daybreak, they fed the horses some food, broke the ice and fetched water for the horses to drink. After everything was done, they accelerated the pursuit. The First Cavalry Brigade was a large combat unit, but now there were only more than 4,000 cavalrymen left. It was not because many died in the battle in the Northeast, but because a large number of war horses, draft horses, and pack horses died on the way back and forth for various reasons, so only these mounts could be used.

Because there were not enough war horses, some cavalrymen switched to draft horses.

Akiyama Yoshifuru privately said that he led "mule soldiers" instead of cavalry. But whether it is mules or donkeys, they are definitely better than infantry in terms of tactical mobility.

During the pursuit, the mounts would slip and the cavalrymen would fall to the ground. Akiyama Yoshifuru let the Japanese soldiers who had lost their mounts catch up slowly from behind. He had no time and no extra troops to pick up those who had fallen behind.

"Boost!"

"Catch up with the enemy and kill them all!"

The Japanese cavalry galloped and saw the Chinese struggling on the snow at around 10 a.m. Akiyama Yoshifuru was inspired. He drew his saber on horseback despite his fatigue and shouted, "Attack!"

"He! He! He!"

Frenzied shouts rang out among the Japanese cavalry. Cavalry is naturally nobler than infantry, and the impact of cavalry is far greater than that of infantry. The treatment is also much higher than that of infantry. Soldiers can endure hunger, but war horses cannot. If the treatment is slightly worse, those big animals will dare to die for you to see.

In a wild encounter, if the infantry failed to deploy in time, they would be beaten by the organized cavalry. Now the Japanese army was pursuing and the Chinese were running away. As long as they caught up, they could kill all those hateful Chinese.

"Commander, the Japs are catching up with us!"

Xu Wuji looked back at the Japanese cavalry, which was gradually speeding up, and then looked at the map in his hand, "There are still 17 or 18 miles to go! It would be better if we don't rest in the early morning!"

That being said, even if they didn't rest for 15 minutes, could they reach Kraskino? The soldiers had already reached their limit at that time, and if they didn't rest, they might not be able to walk so fast. Alas, it was just a "little" distance away.

"Master, what should we do?"

"What else can we do?" Xu Wuji shook his head repeatedly, "Stop advancing, deploy the troops on that hilltop, and prepare for battle!"

Night attack group: Lu Jiu ④ Jiu, ③ ⑥ ① ③ ⑤ It snowed for several days, and the weather was getting colder, almost reaching minus 20 degrees. It was impossible to dig trenches on the hard ground, and even if it could be dug, it would be too late. It would take time to build a defense line with ice and snow. It was too late to do anything now, so we could only go up the mountain and hold on. If we could hold on until dark, there might be a glimmer of hope.

If that doesn't work, you can only kill one to break even, and killing two will be considered a profit.

Chapter 326: Pork Stewed with Vermicelli

"Snapped!"

The soldier above slipped, and Xu Wuji quickly stretched out a hand to hold him up, thus preventing a group of people from being knocked down. The small hilltop covered with ice and snow was bare, and the few trees that were there served as handrails during the climb. After finally climbing to the top, everyone's palms were red and swollen, like carrots.

Xu Wuji was better, but he was also shivering from the cold. "It's too cold! This damn weather!"

The People's Army was in a bad state, and the Japanese cavalry was not much better. Akiyama Yoshifuru was shaky on his horse, and it was obvious to others that he was like this. But they finally caught up with the enemy, and all the suffering they had endured before was worth it. The Chinese ran to such a small hill, but was it any use?

Akiyama Yoshifuru showed a cruel sneer, seeing that there were only about a hundred people on the hilltop, such a small number of enemies could not satisfy the appetite of the First Cavalry Brigade. He sent some cavalry to watch the enemy on the hilltop from a distance, and he led the cavalry to continue chasing forward.

"Damn it, the Japs aren't stupid!"

Xu Wuji aimed his rifle at the enemy a mile away and put down his weapon in dismay. At such a long distance, firing a gun would be a waste of bullets. At 600 meters, that was the range of heavy machine guns and mortars. If it was farther away, mountain artillery and field artillery would be needed.

The Japanese cavalry 1st Brigade was equipped with more than a dozen heavy machine guns. They stopped far away, propped up the heavy machine guns on the snow, and did not launch an attack. It seemed that they wanted to wait for the infantry to arrive with artillery before launching an attack. The Japanese actions made Xu Wuji both happy and worried. Fortunately, the Japanese did not attack, so he could rest for a while; but he was worried that if the Japanese infantry arrived before dark, the company on the hill would probably be finished.

He looked towards the west, hoping that the reinforcements would come soon. Xu Wuji stayed behind last, of course he had made all the arrangements. Burying bombs in Khasanskiy was one of the preparations, and sending reinforcements was another.

The question now is, will the reinforcements arrive first, or will the enemy's infantry arrive first? Japan is just like a mad dog. If the number of reinforcements is small, I'm afraid... Before fighting with the Japanese army, Xu Wuji didn't know that the Japanese like to act recklessly now. When fighting with the Japanese five years ago, the Japanese were not so crazy. Those small Japanese soldiers didn't want to win at all, but wanted to die in battle.

In this harsh environment, dying in battle might be better than living in torment.

The people's army, lying on the top of the mountain waiting for the fate to be decided, was shivering in the cold wind. The Japanese soldiers who set up heavy machine guns at the foot of the mountain were also not feeling well. Many of them jumped up and down on the snow to avoid being frozen. More people hugged their mounts and ate oats, soybeans and other things. Eating more food would not warm the body immediately, but it would be more or less useful.

Sergeants and sergeants could also take out dried meat, copper wine bottles and other things that they kept close to their bodies.

West, a rare treat, the things were looted from the Binhai Province, and there was only a little left. Compared with the poor infantry, the cavalry had better supplies, but it was just better, not much better. If they wanted to eat and drink enough, they still had to do it themselves.

Four legs are faster than two legs, and they are better than infantry in robbery. Akiyama Yoshifuru was strict in disciplining his troops, but he didn't care much about robbery. During the Anti-Qing War and the Southwest War, the Japanese army's military discipline on the Japanese archipelago was not very good, and it became even worse when it went to foreign countries.

"Well, if we don't destroy all those heavy machine guns and mortars, we can't just watch the Japanese being so arrogant down there."

Xu Wuji felt a little regretful. If he had brought two heavy machine guns, or even just one, he would not be so passive. But then again, a heavy machine gun would at least increase the weight of three soldiers by dozens of kilograms... It would be better to smash it, otherwise they would not be able to run so far.

Although he was now trapped on the top of the mountain, all the survivors of the Seventh Division were evacuated. The horses and livestock of the Seventh Division Cavalry Regiment became transport teams, pulling the wounded back on sleds. This alone was a remarkable achievement.

Organizing a retreat is more difficult than organizing an attack. Throughout history, countless armies have collapsed during retreat. A few months ago, the Russian army in Liaoyang lost its organization during the breakout, and more than 100,000 people were blocked in the mountain road, and finally all became prisoners of the People's Army.

More than half of the Seventh Division was killed or wounded in the battle, but the survivors were evacuated, leaving only the division commander Xu Wuji and the guard company surrounded on the top of the mountain. Seeing the Japanese eating and moving around at the foot of the mountain, Xu Wuji also asked the soldiers to take out the remaining dry food and eat it.

As he ate dried meat and salted radish strips, he thought that he might become the first major general division commander in the history of the People's Army to die in battle. This made people feel depressed. The first batch leader of the quick-training department, the fastest promoted non-commissioned officer, and then he would become the first major general division commander to die in battle...

In the afternoon, gunshots were heard faintly on the road to the west. Xu Wuji's ears moved, waking up from a brief and chaotic dream. He pushed the divisional political commissar beside him and asked, "Is there a fight in the west?"

The divisional political commissar was much older than Xu Wuji, and unlike the young man, he was frozen in the minus 20 degrees Celsius and his consciousness was a little fuzzy. The political commissar just dreamed of a hot stove, fragrant roast duck, and steaming pork stewed with vermicelli. Pork stewed with vermicelli is a famous dish in Northeast China. It can be added with pig blood, pig kidneys, and sour cabbage. A bowl of hot food is simply delicious.

After being pushed awake, the political commissar sighed, wiped his face with ice and snow, forced himself to wake up a little, and listened carefully, but heard nothing except the whistling wind. "Commander, did you hear it wrong? The newspaper said that before people freeze to death, they will have many hallucinations and feel that they are very hot."

He thought of the food in his dream, roast duck, pork stewed with vermicelli... and added: "I will also dream of many delicious foods."

After hearing what the political commissar said, Xu Wuji also began to doubt. The north wind was blowing so hard, how could he hear any other sound? Could it be that he was about to freeze to death, so he had hallucinations? If this was true, then he might not be the first major general division commander of the People's Army to die in battle, but the first major general to freeze to death.

"Hey, what is that?"

On the snowy ground in the distance to the west, a group of black spots were running towards this side. Xu Wuji looked over and peered through the telescope for a long time, then said uncertainly, "It looks like the enemy's cavalry? Are they running for their lives? Are they being chased? But our cavalry regiment only has a few horses left."

Chapter 327: Meeting on a Narrow Road

Akiyama Yoshifuru was a well-known weirdo in the Japanese army. It was said that he was extremely resistant to taking a bath, so that he always had a bad smell and his clothes were full of lice. He was born in a samurai family and participated in the Sino-Japanese War. When the Port Arthur Massacre occurred, the troops he led were in Port Arthur. The People's Army issued a clear order to refuse the surrender of Akiyama Yoshifuru, Nogi Maresuke and others. After hearing the news, Akiyama Yoshifuru was not afraid, but laughed on the spot: "I didn't expect Lin Yongchang to be so afraid of me!"

He assigned two hundred cavalrymen to monitor the enemy who had fled to the top of the hill, and he personally led the army to continue the pursuit. Akiyama Yoshifuru had just arrived from Outer Northeast, and had not actually fought with the People's Army, except for the bombing in Khasanski. He had faced the People's Army before, and at that time, the army under Lin Yongchang was still called the Volunteer Army.

That was four or five years ago. As the most famous cavalry expert in the Japanese army, Akiyama Yoshifuru went to Tianjin with the Fifth Division. After that, the Fifth Division attacked Beijing, and he stayed in Tianjin. When Marshal Lin led his troops to attack, Akiyama Yoshifuru was eating grilled fish in the artillery fort outside the city. Before he could react, Tianjin had already been invaded. At first, Akiyama Yoshifuru wanted to hold on to the artillery fort and wait for the opportunity to send troops.

But Lin Yongchang didn't give him a chance. When attacking Tianjin, he sent more than 3,000 troops to surround Dagu Fort from the rear. There were still a few cannons on Dagu Fort, but they were all fortress cannons facing the sea. If they wanted to turn around and bombard, it would take several days without special equipment.

By the time Pao Wan realized it, Tianjin had been liberated.

With no other options, Akiyama Yoshifuru could only flee with a few hundred Japanese soldiers. This was the biggest stain on his life, and it was mentioned from time to time later. When the Chinese annihilated the Eight-Nation Alliance, the voices of criticism decreased. When the People's Army forced the Russian army to surrender, the voices of ridicule and discussion in the army finally died down.

But just because others stopped talking about it didn't mean that Akiyama Yoshifuru didn't take it to heart. When he was teaching a class to a military academy student, someone once asked him, "What is cavalry?" At that time, Akiyama Yoshifuru looked around, then walked to the edge of the classroom, smashed the window glass with one punch, and then raised his bloody fist and said, "This is cavalry!"

Cavalry is so powerful and fragile. To use cavalry, one must have the courage to move forward. However, four years ago in Tianjin, Akiyama Yoshifuru became a deserter. Although he had no warhorse and insufficient troops at the time, he had to withdraw from the battlefield, but he has always been brooding over it and wants to completely wash away the shame on himself.

Now is the best time to wash away the shame. What better way is there than to destroy the Chinese army? The fleeing infantry are just panicked prey. All they need to do is to ride forward and gently wave their sabers to chop off the Chinese heads!

After chasing forward for another half an hour, the 1st Cavalry Brigade spotted the Chinese army again, with twice as many troops as before. Akiyama Yoshifuru was refreshed, and vitality burst out of his cold body, "Enemy spotted! Prepare for battle!"

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

"Sir! Look over there!"

Suddenly someone shouted, followed by dozens of people shouting together, the sound drowning out the sound of horse hooves. Akiyama Yoshiko looked in the direction the soldiers pointed, and saw a cavalryman standing proudly on the western mountain ridge holding a battle flag. The man was wearing thick fur, and the battle flag in his hand was stretched straight in the north wind.

"That's not our man!"

Akiyama Yoshifuru was sure of this. The Japanese cavalry would not climb the mountain for no reason. Even if they could get a better view, what would it do? The temperature here dropped to minus ten degrees Celsius, and it could reach minus twenty degrees Celsius at night. The mountains were covered with thick ice and snow. It was very difficult to climb up, and even more difficult to come down. If you were not careful, you would fall and be half dead. The greater difficulty was the cold. The mountain wind was biting and could freeze people to death.

But Meng En* Borjigin didn't think so. He was wearing thick fur and riding a horse that was one of the best horses in the world. What's wrong with climbing a mountain? As long as it's cool! Even if he fell off the mountain, it didn't matter. He had thick skin and was shot several times, so he didn't care about falling a few times. Climbing so high was not only for showing off, but more for deterring the enemy, so that the target to be rescued would not be chopped down by the Japanese army under their noses.

Marshal Lin said, "We will fight to Busan to celebrate the New Year." Busan is in the south, but they rushed all the way to the east. After arriving at Kraskino, Meng En Borjigin did not stop to rest, but continued to rush east with 3,000 Mongolian cavalry, just to rescue Xu Wuji, the commander of the Seventh Division. His Majesty the Emperor was very dissatisfied with Xu Wuji's behavior of personally covering the rear, but Meng En Borjigin thought that the little guy with the surname Xu was very much to his liking. A good general should charge in front and retreat in the back!

Seeing the Japanese cavalry stop in the distance, Meng En* Borjigin laughed loudly. He wanted to be heroic and generous, but the wind on the mountain was too strong and his laughter was drowned out by the wind. Akiyama Yoshifuru looked at the lone cavalry on the mountain, reined in his horse, and became suspicious: Have the Chinese reinforcements arrived?

This is very likely, and someone has proposed this possibility before. There are many Mongolian cavalry in the People's Army, which is something many people know. Those Mongolian cavalry are very capable in reconnaissance, harassment and delay, but in the previous battle, those Mongolian cavalry never appeared, and the Japanese army judged that the main force of the Chinese cavalry should be placed in Seoul.

After the People's Government declared war on Japan, Japan immediately strengthened its control over Seoul, mainly controlling Lee Hee, the last king of Korea and the founding emperor of the Korean Empire. Lee Hee was a puppet of the Japanese, but he still had some reputation among the Korean people. The Japanese were worried that if Lee Hee fled to the Chinese side, it would cause trouble for Japan's rule in Korea. Even after An Jung-geun, Kim Jae-hee and others established the People's Republic of Korea, the Japanese did not relax their supervision of Lee Hee.

It now seems that Marshal Oyama Iwao and others made a mistake in their judgment. The Chinese cavalry may not be preparing to attack Seoul in the Tokugawa direction, but in the ice and snow of Outer Northeast. Akiyama Yoshifuru boasted that his understanding of cavalry was second to none in East Asia. When he found that there might be unexpected situations, he immediately responded. He ordered the main force of the 1st Cavalry Brigade to stop and reorganize, while letting the cavalry with slightly better horsepower speed up and go forward to scout the enemy.

As for the enemy infantry that was running towards the hilly area, Akiyama Yoshifuru did not forget about it and sent a cavalry to chase and kill them. No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still meat. Akiyama Yoshifuru never knew what it meant to show mercy to the enemy.

Chapter 328 Confidence

Cavalry requires more officers than infantry, and therefore must be trained with particular care. Cavalry achieves victory not only by speed, but also by keeping its ranks in good order and by making good use of its reserves. If light cavalry are to be sent as vanguards, they must be divided into companies, battalions, regiments, etc., so that they can

They can act according to the situation, because all the vanguard and rear guard need to do is to chase, retreat in a chessboard formation, change into several rows or columns, and quickly change the front of the battle line to encircle the enemy's flank.

By these maneuvers the vanguard or rear guard can avoid fighting a superior force, and avoid engaging in an overly violent struggle with it; at the same time it can hold them back, giving the whole army time to catch up, the infantry time to move away, the commander time to make decisions, and the baggage depots and trains time to arrive where they are supposed to be. The whole art of the commander of the vanguard and rear guard consists in holding back the enemy, not placing himself in a position to be attacked, and forcing the enemy to take four hours to advance a mile. Such results can only be obtained through practical training, and in all cases the cavalry needs this training more than the infantry, and the vanguard and rear guard need it more than any other troops.

Akiyama Yoshifuru studied cavalry in France for three years. After the Battle of Sedan, the Japanese army turned to learn from the German Army, but he still admired the French cavalry very much, believing that the French cavalry pioneered many new tactics. Akiyama Yoshifuru insisted that the cavalry should be used together and equipped with machine guns and cannons, rather than dispersed to do reconnaissance and delay. It’s not that reconnaissance is not important, but the cavalry should play a more important role. What he said is very true. The People’s Army also concentrated on using cavalry and equipped the cavalry with machine guns and cannons. But the Japanese army is a poor army. Not only does it lack machine guns and cannons, but it also lacks war horses, pack horses and draft horses. Akiyama Yoshifuru’s suggestion is very good, but the headquarters cannot give him the resources he wants. If all the war horses are given to Akiyama Yoshifuru, what about the other troops? Rely on infantry to conduct reconnaissance?

Soon, the cavalry sent to the front for reconnaissance came running back, waving their flags from a distance. On the hills in the distance, the short and strong Meng En* Borjigin smiled. He took off the horn hanging on the neck of his horse and blew it vigorously. The long and desolate sound of the horn echoed among the mountains and spread far away on the snow. Several Mongolian cavalry followed and turned out from the foot of the mountain, followed by dozens, hundreds, and then thousands. Later, the endless cavalry filled Akiyama Yoshiguro's sight.

"Mongols," Akiyama Yoshifuru tightened his military coat, but it did not make his body warmer. He drew his saber and shouted an order, "The machine gun team will deploy on the high ground, and everyone else will line up immediately!" The flag bearer waved the flag vigorously on high ground, passing the order to every battalion.

The power of the machine guns was unquestionable. Even though many horses died in the back and forth movement, Akiyama Yoshifuru insisted on bringing those heavy weapons. Now was the time to unleash the power of those heavy machine guns.

But the [Mongol Iron Cavalry] was too fast. Before the First Cavalry Brigade was fully deployed, the Mongolian cavalry had already rushed into the range of the rifles. The Mongolian cavalry fired while charging. Their accuracy was not very good, but the momentum was extremely terrifying. Because the First Cavalry Brigade came from a long distance, it consumed too much horsepower and deployed much slower than usual. Some soldiers replaced their mounts with draft horses, mules and donkeys. Those animals were okay as a means of transportation, but their performance on the battlefield was far inferior to that of well-trained war horses.