Chapter 194 The Pacific Fleet is really coming!
On the new pier of Anton Port in the morning, the sea breeze talked about it, but Uncle De's back was still hot, and he was sweating all over his head.
Bein behind them were hundreds of workers. They shouted or carried them together and poured a pile of white bread with meat buns together. More than a dozen women gathered around and carefully covered the thick quilts on these foods for fear that they would not be cooled by the sea breeze.
A man fell down the steamed bread, looked at more than a dozen soldiers around him, looked at the still empty sea, and asked, "Uncle De, can't this not come?"
"No." Although Uncle De said, his eyes were also full of anxiety. The fleet should have arrived at the scheduled time. Why was there no shadow? However, he was not in the mood to care about whether the fleet was late. Just preparing 10,000 rations of people made him try his best.
"Look at it." Just when everyone was busy, a cook waving a shovel shouted. Uncle De also looked at it quickly and saw a large area of black smoke suddenly appeared on the sea like a dark cloud. In a while, more than a dozen huge sea boats appeared in his eyes.
"I'm coming, I'm finally here!" Seeing the sea boat, Uncle De was finally relieved and hurriedly ordered everyone to speed up.
While everyone was busy watching such a large fleet, the first sea ship slowly leaned against the dock. Almost at the moment when the cable was just tied to death, the first team of Pacific soldiers with guns on their backs and wearing strange military uniforms that everyone was used to had jumped off the dock.
"Sand up!"
When the last soldier rushed down the ship, there was already a human head on the dock. Looking at these young soldiers, Uncle De and everyone were excited, because they all knew that this was the Pacific Army that had brought them stability and better and better in the past two years!
These children are all their protectors. Their arrival means that these people can finally straighten up and no longer have to dodge!
But the battalion commander who led the team out of the ship first did not seem to see the excitement of Uncle De and others. He shouted, "Each person has four steamed buns and two pieces of meat patties. Take them and set off immediately!"
"Yes."
In the shouts of the soldiers, Uncle De and others finally woke up and hurriedly began to distribute steamed buns and meat cakes. They also filled some soldiers' kettles with water. The soldiers who got the steamed buns and meat cakes immediately returned to the queue. When the last person got it, the battalion commander immediately shouted, "Psalute!" After taking everyone to salute Uncle De and other dockers, they ran away quickly.
"Uncle De, he... They saluted me!"
"Yes, I have lived for half of my life. It's the first time I've seen the soldier salute us!"
"Damn, it's worth it!"
In the excitement and discussion, the second cargo ship also leaned on the dock, followed by the third, the fourth... No matter which one, it was the same after getting off the ship, queuing up, getting dry food and then galloping away.
With the gradual disappearance of the hill-like steamed buns and meat cakes on the dock, thousands of war horses in the stables have already been ready. Looking at these war horses that have just come and are about to leave, the horsemen are a little reluctant to leave. What's more, what makes them don't understand is that such a good war horse is actually used to pull things this time, but wait After their eyes moved to the thing they were pulling, their eyes could no longer be taken back.
That's a cannon!
God, there are hundreds of them! ——
"Boom!"
A shell exploded not far behind Li Daniu, and he quickly shrank his head and hid in the pit.
The shells scattered everywhere, bringing countless soil and gravel, and jingling on the helmet. When the sound was completely over, Li Daniu raised his head again. Only then did he find that a comrade-in-arms not far behind him had been blown up beyond his face.
His eyes suddenly turned red. The guy joined the army with him. The two were still very good friends. After receiving recruit training together, they met the commander together. Finally, they were divided into the third battalion together, but they didn't expect that this battle was sacrificed!
Li Daniu suddenly raised his gun and aimed at the Russian cannons with white smoke under the low slope, but soon gave up, because the distance was too far and it was beyond the range of the rifle. Finally, he could only hammer it in the trench with his hand and turn the muzzle to a Russian soldier who rushed up with a cat's waist.
With a crisp gunshot, the Russian soldier suddenly fell down with blood on his chest. Seeing the other party fall, Li Daniel turned the muzzle again.
In the trench, there were many soldiers like him. No one expected that the third battalion had just arrived at the Skyscraper Hill, and the trench was only half dug, and the forward of the Russian cavalry arrived.
The battle broke out in an instant. No one expected it to be so fierce. The Russian cavalry didn't know what was wrong. They rushed to the horse's road like crazy, hoping to pass quickly, but soon they were disappointed.
Although the Motianling sounds tall and large, it is actually not very high, and it is still far from the road, so the blocking position is placed on this hill near the roadside. On the other side of the road, there was the same position. It was the two positions that clamped the lane like pliers, which made it impossible for the Russian cavalry to pass quickly.
If you want to pass through the horse road, you must first kill these two positions, but it's not easy. For this blocking mission, the third battalion not only brought four Maxim machine guns, but also eight mortars. Even bullets and grenades have five more bases than before. These things are sent by dozens of Liaodong Reading Camp. The war horse shared the burden, otherwise everyone would not have been able to get here so soon.
The first batch of more than a thousand cavalry were quickly repulsed, but before Li Daniu and his comrades were excited, the dense Russian army had appeared on the horizon.
Looking at the army of nearly 10,000 people, Li Daniu's scalp was numb at that time. Even if one bullet killed a Russian soldier, everyone in the third battalion would have ten shots! The Russians soon found that the terrain was unfavorable to the cavalry, so this wave of attack was the turn of the infantry, plus the one just killed, which was already the third.
choo-choo...
The bullets hit the mud in front of the trench, making bursts of chirping. Listening to the sound of the shuttle near his ear, Li Daniu's hair stood up all over his body. How could these damn Russians rush up as if they couldn't finish it!
"Machine gun!"
Just when Li Daniu and his comrades were suppressed and couldn't raise their heads, with the battalion commander's shout, four Maxim machine guns covered by thick soil opened fire. Looking at the four tongues of fire that suddenly spewed out in the bunker next to them, the soldiers immediately shouted excitedly and looked at them one after another.
Li Daniel only saw that the upper body of a dodge Russian soldier seemed to be hit by something. The dense bullets passed through his stomach and cut half of his body like a corpse. The blood rushed out with residual meat and intestines, and he was so scared. The Russian soldiers gathered together and ran away, but under the rainstorm of bullets, they didn't have a chance to run one more step at all. Their heads were either blown up or their limbs were broken, and the whole position was full of flesh and blood corpses and broken arms.
Hundreds of Russian soldiers who were rushing up did not expect that there was a Maxim machine gun in the position. Under the roar of this monster with five or six hundred bullets per minute, the Russian soldiers who launched the human wave charge were immediately stunned and fell down like cutting wheat, and could no longer take care to shoot!
How could Li Da Niu give up such a good opportunity? He immediately recovered and aimed at an unlucky man who turned around and wanted to run. With a bang, the bullet hit the guy in front of him.
"Grass!"
After a spat, Li Da Niu pulled the bolt to aim and shoot again. A series of movements were completed in one go. This time, he was finally not disappointed. He watched the Russian soldier fall down, and his legs and stomach twitched twice and there was no movement.
"Da Niu, well done."
Next to, the monitor gave a thumbs-up. Li Daniel scratched his head. Suddenly, he only heard a chirping. Before he fell down, he felt a pain in his left arm and suddenly fell back.
Big cow, big cow!
The monitor hurriedly lowered his head and ran over. Li Daniel quickly waved his right hand first, saying that he could not die. Then he saw his left arm. He saw that a piece of his left arm was bitten by a bullet, and blood gushed out like spring water.
The monitor ran to his side, quickly took out a roll of white cloth from his pocket, handed it to his comrade-in-arms who came to check the injury, and shouted, "Come on, bandage Da Niu first." The comrade-in-arms nodded, took the white cloth and tore it hard, wrapped it around Li Daniel's wound, and shouted, "How's it going? Does it hurt?
"It's okay." Li Daniel shook his head. When the wound was wrapped up, he returned to his defensive position. He grinned at the monitor and his comrades-in-arms around him, and the muzzle quickly found the target again.
"Dah, Dah..." The sound of the machine gun sounded like fried beans, and the Russian soldiers finally couldn't stand it. Under the shooting of the machine gun, the wolf ran away and retreated down the low slope in the blink of an eye.
I can finally breathe a sigh of relief.
Looking at the fleeing Russian soldiers, Li Daniu looked at the sun gradually going westward. He was greatly relieved, turned around and leaned against the tunnel, and hit his comrade-in-arms beside him with his arm: "Dog, you said you have been fighting for a long time. How long will it take to fight?"
The comrade-in-arms shook his head: "I don't know. Anyway, I can't let a Russian hairy man go."
Li Daniu nodded, took out the already blackened steamed bread from his pocket, and bit it fiercely. At this time, bursts of screams sounded again, and the Russian artillery began to shell again.
More than a dozen groups of flames suddenly exploded before and after the position, but not long after the Russian artillery opened fire this time, the eight mortars in the battalion also began to fight back. A group of white smoke drilled out of the woods behind the trench, and the black spot crossed the trench and rushed to the Russian army at the foot of the mountain.
Boom...
Boom...——
Lushun Port.
The huge barracks have long been dilapidated, full of gravel and rubble. In the former school yard, the black pressure was full of officers and soldiers dressed in Beiyang and Green Camp uniforms, with a dark face and captured.
There were more than 2,000 people. Some of them were captured when they swam to the shore in the naval battle outside the port of Lushun, some were captured at the end of the garrison, some were unwilling to escape with Gong Zhaoyu, and some of them surrendered the Green Battalion who put down their weapons and did not have time to escape.
Looking at these brothers and sisters who were finally captured or surrendered for various reasons under the guns and muzzle of the Russian fleet, Xie Baozhang sighed and looked up at the setting sun. Somehow he always felt a little cold.
Beiyang is gone!
Although he finally saw Zhen Yuan and Jing Yuan escape, Xie Baozhang was no longer optimistic about them. Everyone knew that when they left, their bodies were already full of bullet marks. In the face of the pursuit of three Russian cruisers like wolves and tigers, it was a question whether they could escape to Weihaiwei.
In a few days, they were locked here. Except for the Russian soldiers who sent a dry grain every day, they never saw the sky outside. They were trapped here. Every day, they could only look at the small piece of sky above their heads, which made the arrogant Beiyang officers and soldiers feel even more frustrated.
More importantly, it has been a few days since Lushun was attacked by the Russian sailors. There has been no movement in the court so far. It is as quiet outside as if it were asleep. Not to mention the counterattack, there is not even the special envoy of the Qing Dynasty who came to visit!
Xie Baozhang knew very well that he had seen through the faces of the ministers in the court. Even Li Hongzhang, the reform pioneer of the Westernization movement in the eyes of others, he did not agree. At least when the old Buddha transferred the military expenses of the sailors to repair the garden, he did not take any obstacles and saw that the silver turned into a pile. Useless rockery and gravel.
Now there are no special envoys and no reinforcements, which shows that some people in the court have turned a blind eye to the remnants of the Beiyang imprisoned in Lushun. The reason why the Russians did not kill them is not how good they are, but that they are ready to treat themselves as blackmail in future negotiations!
It's not good to be a bargaining chip. Once the court does not agree to the other party in the negotiations, these people will eventually end up being executed collectively. If they are unlucky, I'm afraid they can't even find the corpse in the capital.
Xie Baozhang was not afraid of death, but this kind of death did make him feel very aggrieved. He would rather be killed by a shell on the battlefield than sit here and wait for death. It felt like seeing a criminal tied to a gallows when he was studying in the UK.
Do you still have a choice now?
With a wry smile, he was about to turn back to the house and wait for death when he saw Sa Zhenbing coming over: "Brother Jingru (Xie Baozhang), see you in a daze for a while. What are you thinking about?"
"Let's think about when the Russians will execute us." Xie Baozhang took a deep breath and knew that Sa Zhenbing had been trying to escape. He couldn't help asking casually, "Dingming (Sa Zhenbing), have you ever thought of a way these days?"
"No." Sa Zhenbing took a step forward and looked at the Russian soldiers on the roof. Suddenly, he dragged Xie Baozhang under the eaves, avoiding the sight of the Russians, and whispered with a little excitement, "I searched these days. Although I didn't find a way out, Brother Jingru, guess what I found?"
In the past few days, Xie Baozhang saw Sa Zhenbing's expression for the first time, and immediately asked, "What did Ding Ming find?" Is it worth your happiness?"
After Sa Zhenbing found that he had not been noticed by the Russian soldiers, he glanced at Xie Baozhang with excitement: "I found that the Russian soldiers seemed to be very nervous, and the food delivery man said that Russia was desperately strengthening the coastal defense these days, ready to reuse our forts!"
"Reinforced coastal defense? Reuse the fort?!"
Xie Baozhang's eyes are dull. What do the Russians want to do? To repair Lushun Port, should we wait until they have full control here? Could it be that the court has promised to cede Lushun? No, if they agree to cede, the Russians should be happy. How can they be nervous?
Before Xie Baozhang finished thinking, Sa Zhenbing said again, "I also heard that the Russian sailors did not know what news they had received. They have been in a hurry to go to sea for three days and there has been no news. These days, the left-behind Russian soldiers have also stepped up the arrangement on the dock, and the cruisers left by the sailors said that they were on standby and could not be extinguished."
"No news after going to sea for three days? The left-behind cruiser said that it was on standby and could not be turned off?! Xie Baozhang was even more puzzled. They were all from Beiyang, and they all studied in the UK to learn how to be a ship. Naturally, he knew what the Russian sailors represented. If he said that there was no news in the sea for three days, it would be nothing. It was normal for some British sailors to go out for a year and a half without news, but the left-behind cruisers said that it was strange to be on standby. It was difficult. Did the court say that it was going to counterattack?
It's not right. Zhenyuan and Jingyuan watched them leave by themselves. Not to mention participating in the counterattack, it is a question whether the two ships can sail back to Weihaiwei. Without these two ships, I'm afraid that the small boats of Weihaiwei will not be enough for the Russian sailors to stuff their teeth. Why do they still need to be so nervous and have to turn off the engine! Is this the preparation for the attack of the enemy?
British? No, although the British don't like Russia, they won't turn against Russia for the Qing Dynasty and meet each other!
Who else can make the Russians so nervous on this sea? Say it myself? It is difficult to protect yourself. The Americans are too far away. The French are in the South Sea, and the Germans have heard that they are coming, but their warships can't threaten the Russian sailors, which is comparable to the Russian sailors and threaten them. I'm afraid there is only one!
"Hawaiian! The Pacific Fleet!"
Xie Baozhang's eyes suddenly lit up. Before he could speak, suddenly a muffled thunder rolled in, and then a sharp roar. These unique voices would not be forgotten even if he died. They were the roar of naval guns!
Boom!
A series of explosions made the whole barracks explode as if they had been blown up by a hornet. Everyone stood up one after another, raised their heads, and some anxiously were even ready to climb up the wall to look carefully.
"Don't climb, be careful!" Seeing several sailors preparing to climb the wall, Xie Baozhang immediately shouted in a hurry. In the sound, several Russian soldiers standing on guard at the wall immediately raised their guns and aimed at the soldiers climbing the wall.
Seeing that the tragedy was about to happen in front of him, Xie Baozhang and Sa Zhenbing's nails, who had no time to stop them, were about to pinch into the meat. They only heard a few shots, and quickly turned their heads and didn't want to look at them again.
But at this time, the sailors cheered suddenly. The two looked at it quickly and saw that the soldiers who were ready to climb the wall were not only fine, but the heads of the Russian soldiers who shot fell from the wall.
What's going on?
Before the two understood, a series of explosions and gunfire sounded outside the barracks again, which made the soldiers imprisoned here nervous. Several of them quickly grabbed the Russian soldiers' rifles and guarded them to the door.
Suddenly, the barracks suddenly quieted down. Everyone was staring at the closed door. The nervousness and heartbeat intensified, but no one dared to open the closed door. As time passed, there was still a rumble of gunfire outside, explosions, and the firelight even reflected the dark sky.
In this tense waiting, several soldiers finally couldn't help it. Just as they were about to risk their lives to go out to have a look, the door was suddenly knocked open from the outside. Before several sailors who raised their guns could see clearly, they felt a flower in front of them, and the rifle in their hands was abruptly taken away.
Xie Baozhang and Sa Zhenbing saw at the same time that more than a dozen soldiers wearing steel helmets and cloth bags, dressed in strange clothes that seemed to have been dyed with sludge of different colors, slammed into the door and came in.
The two quickly looked at each other and hurriedly greeted each other. They hugged their fists and said, "Sa Zhenbing (Xie Baozhang), the deputy general of the Beiyang Marine Division, are these brothers?"
"Pacific Army, Dong Dahai." Looking at the two people on the list, Dong Dahai saluted and looked around: "I'm ordered to protect you." With that, with a wave of their hands, several night eagles immediately carried a large number of Russian rifles from outside.
"Let's pick one for all who can use guns. We have to defend it here until the fleet occupies the port and the marines complete the landing."
Xie Baozhang stared at the Russian rifles all over the ground, and then looked up at Dong Dahai and his soldiers who were dressed strangely and carrying small bags. There was only one thought in his mind.
"The Pacific Fleet is really here!"
(to be continued)