Zhang Wansi led more than 10,000 people in the First Cavalry Division, running on the slightly green grass.
The horse's hooves trampled on the grass, kicking up puffs of smoke.
The soldiers rode a yellow-brown horse with some black stripes.
This is the black-striped yellow-brown horse developed by the Royal Academy of Sciences Breeding Center through crossbreeding with Mongolian horses, sweat horses, Arabian horses and other outstanding horse breeds.
This kind of horse has good endurance, fast running speed, and great courage. It is not afraid of the sound of gunfire on the battlefield.
In the Royal Army Cavalry Division, each cavalryman is equipped with two horses, and the machine gunners and artillerymen are equipped with an extra load-bearing horse.
The soldiers carried guns and some ammunition and rode on one horse, while the other horse carried the baggage.
Two horses are used interchangeably to save the horse's energy.
Zhang Wansi saw a small river in front of him, and the grass beside the river was abundant.
He ordered: "We are about to enter the warning range of Russian scouts.
Inform the soldiers to rest by the river and check their guns and ammunition again.
If we go any further, we will enter war at any time."
The flag-talking soldiers immediately waved their flags to convey Zhang Wansi's orders.
The cavalry received the order and immediately controlled their horses to slow down and stop by the small river.
Some of the scouts of the cavalry division were on horseback to guard the surrounding areas.
Most of the cavalrymen dismounted and prepared to line up and go to the river to drink water.
The cavalry platoon leader Ma Kaiyuan led his soldiers and led their horses. After planting wooden stakes in the grass, they tied the horses to the wooden stakes.
They tied their mounts to prevent their mounts from getting lost.
Before the battle, the cavalry's mount went missing, and he was suspected of being a deserter.
Ma Kaiyuan looked at his horse, which was quietly eating the green grass on the meadow with its head lowered.
He took out the soybean meal from the bag and handed it to the horse's mouth.
The horse happily ate soybean meal and continued to snort.
“Dahei, eat slowly, you’ll have enough beans.
Xiaohei, don't worry, I won't let you lose your beans."
Du Wenying, a slim recruit, was also taking care of his own horse's food.
"Sir, the generals are really thoughtful.
There was no attack just after the winter, when the attack would need to carry more baggage.
People have to wear cotton clothes, horses can't eat green grass, and they have to bring more fodder.
Especially the frozen mud, which is simply a swamp. If our cavalry really gets stuck in those places, it will be really doomed."
Ma Kaiyuan smiled and reprimanded: "Don't be poor, take out the naan bread and canned food, we also need to fill our stomachs."
If you don't have a full meal, how will you fight next?
Of course, generals think more comprehensively than you big-headed soldiers.
How else could you become a general? Every general of the Royal Army of Great China was killed from a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.
I have been in the army for more than ten years, but I have never seen someone who took the back door and became a general."
Ma Kaiyuan knew this situation mainly because the founding generals were all young.
Except for a few of them, their oldest sons have just graduated from elementary school and are far from old enough to join the army.
Ma Kaiyuan searched in his package and quickly got naan bread wrapped in oil paper and two bottles of canned food.
He skillfully opened the can with a saber. Inside was fragrant chicken, which tasted great.
What a happy experience it is to be able to eat meat on the front line.
Ma Kaiyuan took one bite of naan bread and one bite of meat. He finished his meal quickly and opened the can of yellow peaches.
The sweet canned yellow peach supplements the nutrients necessary for a person's life, and the sugar water in the can can be quickly absorbed by the body.
He finished his meal quickly and saw the soldiers under his command gobbling up the delicious food.
Seeing this situation, Ma Kaiyuan lamented that the military's treatment was getting better and better.
Now that we have cans, we don’t need to light a fire to eat, which is a lot more convenient when marching.
When Ma Kaiyuan saw that everyone had finished eating, he immediately ordered: "Everyone check the firearms in their hands, especially whether the bullets are loaded."
The cavalrymen all took out magazine pistols one size larger than their revolvers.
The revolver could only hold six bullets; this new gun could hold twenty bullets.
The barrel of the pistol is longer and thicker, and the pistol is more powerful.
Ma Kaiyuan stared closely at the soldiers under his command to check the firearms and ammunition. There were no sloppy soldiers under his command, and all the firearms were loaded with bullets.
After a while, Ma Kaiyuan heard a whistle.
He saw that the team in front of them had finished collecting water and it was time for them to get water.
Ma Kaiyuan ordered all the soldiers to lead their horses close to the river.
He held his pistol and pointed it at the calm water. At the same time, he patted the horse's back and asked Dahei and Xiaohei to approach the river to drink water.
"In a river like this in the wild, there are likely to be wild beasts lurking in it.
It can cause harm to humans and horses. When horses drink water, always pay attention to the water surface.
We cannot let our guard down just because nothing happened elsewhere."
Ma Kaiyuan asked other soldiers to be on guard. He opened the iron military kettle and filled it with water.
"Under normal circumstances, our army advocates drinking boiled water to prevent plague and acclimatization.
But during the march, there was no way to light a fire and obtain boiling water, so the first choice was flowing river water.
With flowing river water, the probability of drinking bad health is very low."
Ma Kaiyuan took his soldiers and horses, drank water to quench their thirst, and then went to another place to rest under the command of his superior officers.
…………………………
While the cavalry force was being repaired, a small team of more than a dozen people was busy.
They are the airship scouts of the Royal Army of Great China, which every army has.
The Royal Army of China used hot air balloons in the early days, but hot air balloon activities were extremely dependent on wind direction.
The current role of hot air balloons is to serve as artillery reconnaissance balloons.
The military's usual aerial reconnaissance force has been replaced by airship scouts.
Airships are more convenient to operate, carry and use. Since their appearance, they have completely replaced the role of hot air balloons in the military.
Ding Feiyu, commander of the airship reconnaissance team, was opening the cylinder to fill the shriveled airship with hydrogen.
The reconnaissance airship they used was very small, and the gondola mounted underneath could only bear the weight of two people.
Ding Feiyu saw that the airship had slowly lifted off, and he checked that there were no air leaks around the hot air balloon.
He signaled that the airship could take off normally and conduct reconnaissance of the enemy ahead.
Ding Feiyu issued the order: "Zhang Ershi and Zhou Hanjiang are responsible for this investigation."
After giving the order, he and others saluted Zhang Ershi and Zhou Hanjiang with a military salute and watched the airship slowly take off into the sky.
Airships are safer, but the hydrogen in the airbags is very active and can explode if you are not careful.
Accidents can happen at any time in the sky.
An accident occurred after an airship was hit by a bird. This happened more than once.
They know whether they were hit by a bird or whether someone on the airship survived. There are more accidents where the cause cannot be found.
Every time the soldiers of the airship reconnaissance team went to the sky, they wrote suicide notes and regarded this reconnaissance mission as their last.
Ding Feiyu couldn't bear it, but he knew that this was the price that had to be paid.
From a higher-level perspective, even if three or four airships are lost, as long as the enemy's situation can be detected, it is very worthwhile.
Three or four airships only lost less than ten people.
Detect the enemy's situation, attack in the best way, and win the war effort.
That would save thousands of lives.
On the battlefield, even generals may die due to stray bullets, and no one is safe.
Everyone serves for the victory of the war.
Ding Feiyu was already preparing for the second airship. The airship that took off did not return on time, and the second airship would take off immediately.
Zhou Hanjiang held the telescope and observed the scene on the grassland.
Looking down from the sky, especially in unobstructed areas like the grassland, the scenery below is unobstructed.
The 1st Cavalry Division formed a fan shape and spread out around the river.
No large-scale enemies were found within three to five kilometers of the 1st Cavalry Division.
"Er Shi, adjust the direction of the airship. Let's move northwest to look for traces of the Russian forward camp."
Zhou Hanjiang is good at mathematics, and he is responsible for acting as a lookout, observing downwards from the airship.
He can roughly calculate the location of the enemy based on the trajectory of the airship in the air.
The airship floated in the air for about 20 minutes, and Zhou Hanjiang saw several small dots moving below.
He reminded excitedly: "We have found traces of the Russian army. This is really good news."
Zhang Ershi immediately followed Zhou Hanjiang's request and adjusted the position of the airship at high altitude.
From the ground, the airship is just a small black dot, and it is not noticeable in the air.
The high-powered telescope of the Dahua Empire allowed Zhou Hanjiang to clearly see the situation below from an altitude of nearly a thousand meters.
"There are about 10,000 cavalry and 5,000 infantry in the Russian camp."
Zhou Hanjiang kept reporting on the situation in the Russian camp, and Zhang Ershi took out a pen to record what Zhou Hanjiang told him.
After observing the situation in the Russian military camp, they immediately controlled the airship to return home.
Ding Feiyu kept staring at the clock in front of him, and time passed slowly.
He was already preparing to launch the second airship.
He took advantage of the cavalry division's rest before sending out an airship to reconnoiter the enemy's situation.
He only had two chances. The cavalry division could not wait for the results of the airship reconnaissance team before taking action.
"Look, our airship has returned. There should be no problems this time."
Ding Feiyu looked up and saw a small black spot in the sky slowly enlarging. This was the return of the dispatched airship.
The hydrogen inside the airship is slowly released, and the airship quickly approaches the ground.
Zhou Hanjiang came down from the hanging basket and said happily: "Fortunately, we have fulfilled our mission. We have explored all the things that should be explored this time."
Ding Feiyu took Zhou Hanjiang and the notes recorded by Zhang Ershi to report the enemy's situation to Zhang Wansi.
…………………………
After Zhang Wansi listened to the reports from the airship reconnaissance team and the scouts, he already had a clear understanding of the situation nearby.
After collecting intelligence, we found the exact location of the Russian forward camp and the deployed troops.
The soldiers have also recuperated their strength, and the cavalry division should formally attack.
He looked at the desk clock carried by his staff and saw that an hour had passed since he had been here.
We can no longer stay, we must defeat the Russian forward camp before dark.
Otherwise, these Russian troops will use the cover of darkness to escape from the battlefield.
These are all walking achievements, but they cannot be allowed to escape.
Zhang Wansi ordered: "Inform the troops to end their rest and launch an attack on the Russian army."
After his order was issued, the drums sounded unhurriedly, and the messengers waved flags to inform everyone of the order.
The reputation of the war horse poem continued to sound, and the 1st Cavalry Division quickly formed its formation.
Zhang Wansi took the lead and led all the cavalry towards the Russian army's station.
Their target is the Russian forward camp.
The airship reconnaissance team learned that the Russian forward camp had 10,000 Cossack cavalry and 5,000 infantry.
The Russian army is thinking about gathering troops and waiting for an opportunity to attack the Kazakh tribe controlled by the Great China Empire.
They will use the Kazakh tribe as a springboard to attack the Tumfu-Balkhash Lake defense line.
Zhang Wansi was not prepared to give the Russian army a chance. He would lead the cavalry division to withdraw and cripple the Russian cavalry.
He wants the Russian army to know how the firearms cavalry in the new era should fight and who is the overlord on the grassland.
The cavalry division has been running on the grassland for about half an hour.
Zhang Wansi issued an order: "Let the scouts take action to eliminate the Russian scouts and cut off the Russian army's eyes and ears."
The ceremony band next to Zhang Wansi gently beat the small drum they carried with them.
The crisp thumping sound is constantly transmitted outwards.
Two messengers, they control the red and blue flags respectively.
While riding horses and running forward, they held the flagpole with both hands, cooperated very well, and waved it regularly.
When the officers of the cavalry division heard the sound of drums and saw the messengers waving flags, they knew that this was already the sprint stage before the war.
The cavalry stepped on their horses' bellies one after another to make the horses run faster.
When Ma Kaiyuan received the order from his superior, he immediately shouted loudly: "Soldiers from the third row are coming with me. We have received the order from our superior and are responsible for destroying the Russian scouts in the front right.
Everyone, please pay attention to me and don’t let any Russian scouts escape.”
Du Wenying stretched his neck and asked: "Sir, are shooting allowed in this battle?
What if the Russian army runs away when they see us and we can’t catch up?”
Ma Kaiyuan led the soldiers under his command to break away from the large army and quickly rushed to the front.
Hearing Du Wenying's question, he shouted at the top of his lungs: "How can we kill the enemy without shooting to prevent the news from leaking?
When you see an enemy entering the range of a pistol, you immediately take out your gun and kill the enemy on the opposite side.
Don't save bullets, kill a scout, I can give you a hundred bullets.
If the enemy runs too fast, there is nothing anyone can do.
We try to be perfect and don’t let anyone go.”
Ma Kaiyuan has become accustomed to shouting and shouting. When the horse is running fast, the sound is not loud enough and the other party cannot hear it.
He held the reins in his left hand, raised his right hand and pointed it forward, scanning all directions with sharp eyes.
If a Russian scout is found, he will lead his troops to deal with the scout and try his best to delay the exposure of the main force.
Ma Kaiyuan remembered what the leader told him, and his task was also very important.
As long as the Russian army is not given time to prepare, the cavalry will be trapped in the camp and unable to exert its full strength.
As long as the raid is successful, they will definitely win this war.