"General Lu, those Confederate soldiers wearing grass-green military uniforms seem to be adding troops to the mountainside and are still dismantling their weapons."

Early the next morning, a staff officer came forward to report the incident, which woke Lu Jiawen from his sleep.

Lu Jia still has lingering fears about these Southern troops who are pursuing them. He even encountered them in his dream. If the main peak of Yuntai Mountain was not so high and the enemy's 105mm howitzer could reach it, it is really hard to say whether he would have survived.

"What do they want to do by increasing their troops halfway up the mountain? Are they preparing to attack the military stronghold on the main peak?" Lu Jiawen asked in panic.

The staff officer shook his head and said, "They didn't do anything."

"Didn't do anything?" Lu Jia muttered in surprise.

Did these people climb up just to see the scenery on Yuntai Mountain?

He got up from the camp bed in one fell swoop, climbed to the top of the main peak, raised his binoculars, and observed the Confederate troops halfway up the mountain and at the foot of the mountain.

The enemy seemed to have temporarily given up on continuing to attack the mountain, and was dismantling twenty howitzers from the foot of the mountain and loading them onto mule carriages.

Thousands of soldiers halfway up the mountain were cutting down trees, cutting thorns, and bundling them with knives and axes.

The huge military camp halfway up the mountain had been torn into pieces by Confederate soldiers. The dismantled wood was also bundled and piled up around the mountainside.

"What do they want to do?" Lu Jiawen looked at the enemy's strange movements with horror and broke into a cold sweat.

"Do they want to set fire to the entire Yuntai Mountain? Oh my God!"

But it’s ridiculous to think about it. Yuntai Mountain has several peaks, and mountains, forests, and rocks coexist. It’s not easy to set the entire mountain on fire.

Moreover, some places are made of rocks and there are no mountains and forests, so they cannot be burned.

"Here's the order. If the Confederate army sets fire to the mountain, we will immediately gather at the main peak. There are rocks all around. We will move the military supplies in advance and put them into the caves that are not surrounded by forests. I will cut down all the weeds and small trees around.

Light cannot attract flames." Lu Jiawen ordered.

"Yes!" the combat staff officer conveyed the order.

After a while, the defenders on the mountain began to move to the main peak higher up, mainly carrying ammunition and food.

At about three o'clock in the afternoon, through the joint efforts of more than 3,000 soldiers, the entire mountain halfway up the mountain was surrounded by trees and weeds.

"General Song, the firewood, weeds, etc. have been prepared, and some oil has been prepared. The troops are waiting for your order." The combat staff asked for instructions.

"Okay, light the mountain on fire!" Song Xiaoniu ordered with satisfaction.

"ignition!"

"ignition!"

"..."

The ignition order was carried out like a drumbeat. Slowly, sparks and flames spread all around, followed by thick black smoke, which filled the air.

An hour later, the fire became more and more intense, the sky was covered with smoke, and the flames mixed with the smoke rolled towards the mountain.

Lu Jia asked and then understood what the other party wanted to do. Burning flames were a form of attack, and what was even more terrifying was the smoke. The thick smoke was billowing, making it difficult to breathe, or causing people to fall to the ground.

Looking at the thick smoke billowing in, Lu Jiawen's scalp went numb and he shouted: "Hurry up and find a place to hide."

The three thousand Northern troops suddenly became frightened and collapsed. The officers and soldiers looked for hiding places and fled for their lives.

The flames can't reach the rocks, but the smoke is pervasive and hits them anyway.

Many Union soldiers were either burned to death or fell to the ground from the smoke.

…

Lu Jiawen stood on the top of the fortress on the main peak like a clay or wood sculpture. Unexpectedly, the Yuntai Mountain stronghold that he thought was solid fell down so quickly.

Seeing the burned soldiers screaming and roaring in the fire, Lu Jiawen ordered in pain:

"Assault outward, as much as you can protrude!"

When the entire top of the mountain was plunged into a sea of ​​flames, Song Xiaoniu's more than 3,000 troops reorganized their ranks, armed with rifles with fixed bayonets, and began to surround the mountain and clear it out.

In the cave on the mountain, the Northern troops who had been smoked and had nowhere to escape ran out screaming. On the wall of the village, some soldiers were on fire. They couldn't wait to rush out of the crowded village gate. With a loud sound, they rushed out.

Jump off the wall.

Most of those who jumped down suffered severe head injuries, broken muscles and bones, unable to move, and screamed in the fire until their voices slowly died down.

"kill!"

Orders without any emotion at all resounded among the Confederate army, like a rain of bullets and bayonets, completely covering the hillsides.

The Union soldiers who ran out blindfolded from caves and stockades were shot, stabbed, or knocked to the ground in droves by the Confederate soldiers.

In less than an hour, the hillside was covered with corpses.

Song Xiaoniu did not follow the team up the mountain. He held up his binoculars and looked up at the top of the main peak, which was immersed in the sea of ​​fire.

There was a man standing on top of the camp on the top of the mountain. Looking at his attire, it was easy to tell that he was a general of the Northern Army.

Wu Jin learned from Wu Jin that this man's name was Lu Jiawen, and he was the commander of the Haizhou Garrison Brigade. At this moment, his whole body was on fire, and his whole person turned into a pitch-black burning man, but he still stood at the top of the fortress.

Song Xiaoniu took off his helmet, put down his hands and stood in a standing posture, paying attention to him.

No matter what position the two sides are in, such war opponents always deserve respect from each other.

…

It was getting late and the battle was basically over. The air on the entire hillside was filled with various smells, the strongest one being the smell of burnt flesh.

Although the Confederate soldiers had been fighting since morning and had no time to eat at all, they did not have the slightest appetite. On the contrary, there were many sergeants from the new regiment who squatted on the ground and kept retching.

These reservists had never been on the battlefield before, and this was their first experience. They didn't expect it to be so cruel and ruthless, and full of blood.

The last four thousand Northern troops who fled into Yuntai Mountain were all killed. They were either burned to death or smoked to death. They were killed without even a chance to surrender.

Some Union soldiers, just escaping from the sea of ​​fire, were hit by bullets and bayonets.

"Clean up the battlefield, bury the pot, and make rice!"

Song Xiaoniu had no expression on his face and gave orders loudly.

As the commander of the front army, he had looked beyond Yuntai Mountain and Haizhou, thinking that before attacking Xuzhou to defend the enemy, there was still time to eliminate the reinforcements of the Northern Army in Haizhou, and then calmly rushed to the Xuzhou battlefield.

In this way, one more force of the Beiyang Army in northern Jiangsu was eliminated. After occupying Xuzhou, it would be easy to capture the isolated city of Huai'an Prefecture.

…

One day later, Wang Zhanyuan, who rushed to support Haizhou like a spark, arrived in front of Yunhua Pass. Song Xiaoniu sent Wu Jin, who had surrendered, to greet him and introduced 5,000 elite Beiyang troops into Yunhua Pass.

Suddenly, artillery boomed from Yuntai Mountain and Huaguo Mountain, and tens of thousands of Confederate troops blocked the way before and after Yunhua Pass.

Song Xiaoniu used his absolutely superior firepower and troops to deal a heavy blow to Wang Zhanyuan who was caught off guard.

After a day of fierce fighting, out of Wang Zhanyuan's 5,000 troops and horses, only a mere 500 horsemen broke out with him, and the rest were either killed in battle or captured.

This time, among the 5,000 Northern troops, 1,500 were elite cavalry. Nearly a thousand cavalry were buried by artillery fire and heavy machine guns. Wang Zhan was so angry that he vomited blood and returned to Jinan unable to recover from illness.
Chapter completed!