Mengshan Army

With a simple face, Cao Kun, the guard envoy of Caozhou who was called "Silly Fool" and "Cao Three Idiots" in the new army, gave the order angrily, and the officers under him saluted and then dispersed.

Cao Kun, who was dripping with oil and sweat on his shiny forehead, hoped to end this much more difficult attack than he expected in one fell swoop in the afternoon.He thought that with his well-trained and well-equipped troops, it would be easy to wipe out a group of bandits guarding Mount Meng.But the actual battle situation far exceeded the worst estimate. In the battle of Zhangjiazhai, he lost nearly a hundred people, and a complete team was almost disabled!If the engineer platoon hadn't handled it well, I would have lost myself as an adult.After losing a complete army, Yuan Shikai, who regarded the army as his life, had to withdraw him.

The Battle of Zhangjiazhai also dispelled Cao Kun's contempt for the Mengshan bandits.The equipment of these bandits is more powerful than expected, and they are definitely a strong enemy if they dare to work hard.Fortunately, the thieves did not take advantage of the situation to divide their troops, which was what he was most worried about.Cao Kun carefully studied the terrain of Mount Meng with the help of the local government on the way to the southwest of Shandong Province after accepting the mission, and learned about this group of bandits "valued" by Mr. Yuan.Shandong's thieves are as well-known throughout the country as the beards outside the pass, and they are the most famous "specialties" in Shandong, especially in the Baodugang area in southern Shandong.There are many "family" of bandits who have been bandits for several generations

As soon as Master Yuan came to Shandong, he ordered to wipe out the Mengshan bandits, and Cao Kun agreed with both hands.It is only natural for officers and soldiers to suppress bandits.It is related to Master Yuan and the reputation of the Beiyang New Army, and the first battle of the New Army must not go wrong.So Cao Kun divided his more than 1000 troops into two, and half of the infantry was deployed in Mengyin to gather secretly, while he marched towards Caozhou with more than [-] infantry and the main artillery force bluffing.After arriving at Pingyi Village, he stopped and suddenly swung his troops eastward to occupy Maoyang Town as a forward base, preparing to attack the mountain from the west road along the main road.But as soon as the vanguard team occupied Zhangjiazhai, the necessary starting point, they encountered a powerful night attack from the bandits.

Fortunately, the bandits didn't take the opportunity to break out after the Zhangjiazhai battle!All the information proved that the main force of the thieves was in Mount Meng, and even the small force that attacked Zhangjiabao retreated up the mountain, which brought a very good situation to Cao Kun.On the basis of careful analysis of the situation, Cao Kun believed that the battle had basically been won. After carefully designing the encirclement, he turned to the final attack on Mengshan on the west road. In the arranged clamp net.

So after turning to attacking the mountain, Cao Kun became cautious and insisted on dragging the artillery team up to Mengshan, no longer hoping that a charge would kill the thief's nest.Fortunately, the ensuing battle went much smoother, and the attack on Louzi went smoothly. The two mountain cannons fired more than a dozen shells and collapsed the bandit's defense. The confession of the captives proved that the bandit suffered heavy casualties. The two troops were defeated, and the troops captured Louzi Tianxian without suffering any casualties.

Cao Kun's confidence has recovered, that's right, how can the thief beat the Western cannon?These bandits probably haven't even seen what a real cannon looks like.After Cao Kun adjusted his team, he decided to conquer Tianmen in one fell swoop the next day. Cao Kun's guide made it very clear that this was the last natural danger leading to Guangming Temple, the bandit's nest.

However, the attack on the second morning suffered heavy casualties. The bandit army standing on the front line of Tianmen was determined and fierce in firepower.The first team to attack was withdrawn due to heavy casualties, and the second team threw it up, but was counterattacked by the bandit army, especially the high ground on the left side of the road that provided strong frontal fire support. A bandit army seized it, and all the soldiers in a shed were killed or captured.

If the bandit army continued to resist so forcefully, Cao Kun suspected that with less than 1000 men in hand, they would not be able to complete the task.

He analyzed that there were at least 3000 bandits on the mountain and at least a thousand rifles. Although many of them were old-fashioned front-loading guns, the proportion of breech-loading foreign guns was not low.Cao Kun has repeatedly estimated this number.Moreover, the bandit army is well-trained and there are many elites.For example, in the battle of the small highland in the morning, according to the report of the officer who was attacking from the front, there were not many bandit troops in the roundabout, that is, about one shed. The fierce hand-to-hand combat shattered the shed guarding the high ground, and the officers and soldiers had no time to reinforce it. When they discovered the crisis and sent reinforcements, the bandit army had already resolved the battle on the high ground, and then defeated the reinforcements with precise firepower. Four deaths and three injuries resulted.Cao Kun was extremely shocked by this result. If the front line reflected the facts, the bandit army could seize the position from the officers and soldiers and defeat the reinforcements with the same force, which means that they still have the strength to defend the high ground after annihilating their own shed!The combat effectiveness of the bandit army is not generally high!Then there is no way to fight this battle!

Due to the shooting range, the artillery placed on the building with only one open area could not cover that high ground. The troops lacking fire support suffered serious casualties in the reinforced shed, causing the morale of the attacking troops to drop rapidly.Fighting is based on morale, and without morale, there is no way to fight a war.

The unsatisfactory attack made Cao Kun calm down after getting anxious.At noon, seize the time to grab the artillery shells, and must use more violent shelling to disintegrate the bandit army defending the front of Tianmen. At the same time, Cao Kun changed the attacking troops and transferred the battalion he had brought up, determined to change tactics and strengthen the pressure on the front. At the same time, they made a bold detour and completely defeated the bandit army at any cost.

For the final general offensive, he handed over the task to the battalion commanded by Ma Jianxun.Because Cao Kun used to be the leader of the battalion, after acting as the agent of Biaotong, he chose Ma Jianxun, the best team officer under his command, to act as the leader of the battalion.

This battalion suffered the least casualties in the attack some time ago. Cao Kun offered a reward. The team officer who was the first to capture Guangming Temple was promoted to the second level, and the reward was 1000 taels of silver.

Ma Jianxun is a veteran officer of the Wuwei Youjun, and he is Cao Kun's absolute confidant.Letting him make contributions at the last moment is the old chief's greatest care for him, and Ma Jianxun knows this well.So after accepting the task, Ma Jianxun immediately called a meeting of the three team officers under him to convey the order.There were four teams in Ma Jianxun's battalion, among which the team guarding Zhangjiazhai didn't come up and went back to Maoyang Town to rest.

Because the mountain road was narrow and steep, the troops could not be deployed, and all the captains wanted to be the first to capture the Tianmen and enter the Guangming Temple.In the end, Ma Jianxun made a decision, the first team attacked and advanced along the mountain road, and the second team mainly went up the mountain and made a detour from the right wing.The fourth team followed the first team as a reserve force.At the same time, a platoon of the second team was sent to try to suppress the firepower of the bandit army on the small high ground that fell into the enemy's hands, so that it would not threaten the frontal attacking brigade.

Cao Kun also participated in the military discussion when Ma Jianxun made the battle deployment. He agreed with Ma Jianxun's arrangement and emphasized the importance of this battle. Enter Guangming Temple and everyone gets rich!

The lure of wealth excited his old troops.

The biggest difficulty for the officers and soldiers was that they were not familiar with the terrain. Although they had hired mountain people as guides, they were not very clear about the terrain near Guangming Temple.Mengshan bandits have occupied Guangming Temple for more than ten years, and it has become an authentic military restricted area. When interrogating the prisoners, they all say that there is no ready-made path to detour to Guangming Temple. Even so, Ma Jianxun still hopes that the second team can find a new way, otherwise , can only rely on frontal attack.

The attack started in the afternoon. The first was the shelling. This time the shelling took a long time. At least fifty shells fell near the Tianmen.To deal with a gang of bandits, this treatment is already quite extravagant. Cao Kun, who was supervising the battle in Louzi, even felt a little distressed. Did Mengshan want to shoot all the shells he carried in the first battle?After all, it is not in Tianjin, so replenishment is not so easy.

The officers and soldiers of the first team did not wait for the second team, which was rounding the mountain, to launch an attack on the Tianmen after the cannon fire stopped. The team officers were very heroic and rushed to the front with shouts. They turned the last hillside and saw the burning. At the same time, through the smoke, they could also see bandits pouring out from behind the southeast hillside, and ran to the position at high speed, scattered, not many people.The team officer who rushed to the front thought that the enjoyable shelling just now almost wiped out the bandits who were holding the position, and the ones who ran up were probably the reinforcements of the bandits.The team officer shouted, "Brothers, kill those bandits and rush into Guangming Temple to receive the reward!" Just after he finished speaking, a bullet was accurately shot from his wide-open mouth, Out of the back of the head, a frightening mist of blood rose.The heroic officer was killed instantly.

The soldiers in the first group could hardly believe the facts in front of them, and unconsciously slowed down their pace, but the bandits who had already occupied their positions had already opened fire, and the high ground on the left side of the officers and soldiers also fired a rain of fatal bullets.The assault team, which was on a relatively flat open ground, was caught in the firepower. Some people kept being shot and screamed. Within a minute, the first team suffered at least 1 or [-] casualties. Most of them immediately turned around and retreated. Some people lay on the ground and fired back indiscriminately.

Cao Kun saw this scene through the German-made binoculars, and was very angry. He immediately sent someone to prevent the retreat of the first team. Cao Kun knew that the retreat of the first team was mainly caused by the death of the team officer, so he immediately appointed a platoon leader to act as an agent. The officer asked the first team to immediately switch to attack.

The first team launched an attack again under the strict supervision of Cao Kun, but was again killed by a platoon of guns when crossing the open space. The bandits crawled behind the parapet and fired bullets neatly under the command of their bandit leader. , Judging from the rhythm of the bandits' shooting, it can be seen that their organization is extremely tight. The acting team officer was killed again, and was shot into the left eye socket by a bullet.A platoon leader was also killed in this attack. The serious casualties of the officers damaged the morale of the team, and the first team was defeated again.To Cao Kun's annoyance, the loss of this attack definitely exceeded that of the bandits.

Cao Kun realized that there were sharpshooters among the bandits.Sometimes, a sharpshooter is more of a threat than a squad.Nowadays, sniper tactics have not yet spread to China, and the Wuwei Youjun has no specialized snipers.Annoyed and cursing at someone, Cao Kun ordered the artillery to fire, but he found in the binoculars that the bandits seemed to have heard his order and quickly retreated behind the southeast hillside.The shells hit the seemingly empty position, and the flames and smoke that rose up mocked Cao Kun. He angrily whipped the big tree beside him with his horsewhip, knowing that he had encountered a more formidable enemy than he had in the morning.

"Grandma," Cao Kun yelled at Ma Jianxun and the retreating officers and soldiers of the first team, "Being beaten up by a bunch of bandits, you bastards are really embarrassing to me! Go down and see how I bring four Varsity!"