The anti-Qing movement began with the looting of the Eight-Nation Alliance.

Chapter 193 Breaking the Queen

Matsushima Muto led about a hundred cavalrymen, desperately fleeing south. A large river slowly came into view ahead.

"Damn it!" Matsushima Muto cursed as he looked at the bare bridge piers.

"Division Commander, what should we do?" The accompanying officers were also in a panic.

The river is twenty or thirty meters wide, with a rather rapid current and considerable depth. Swimming across is clearly impossible.

"Let's go downstream and see if we can find another bridge to cross the river!" Matsushima Tsutomu turned his horse around and led his men downstream.

"Pah! Damn it, looks like a high-ranking Japanese officer. Follow them and see where they go! Be careful!"

A group of people stood up on the distant hillside, and a middle-aged farmer in his forties spat out the grass root in his mouth and said.

They were local militiamen who received orders to dismantle the bridge over the river. They successfully stopped the Japanese army, but the enemy consisted of about a hundred cavalrymen, whom they couldn't handle.

"Erwa, hurry and ride your horse to find the main force. I'll take the rest of you and follow!"

"Yes, Third Uncle!" A young man in his early twenties slung his gun over his shoulder, mounted his horse, and rode off towards the rear.

"Let's go!" Uncle San waved his hand and quietly followed with forty or fifty militiamen.

. . . . . .

Saburo Ogasawara led his two thousand men a few kilometers forward when they heard intense gunfire behind them. It seemed Mitsui and his men had already engaged their pursuers!

With only a small force like Jing Tian's, they probably won't last long. And our group of old, weak, and disabled won't get very far before we're overtaken again!

"Gentlemen, we're too conspicuous if we go together. It's better if we split up!" Saburo Ogasawara said, gathering several officers together.

"Ogasawara-kun, what are you going to do?" A group of officers looked at Ogasawara Saburo with trepidation.

Most of them were logistics personnel, and they were all afraid that Ogasawara Saburo would abandon them and run away first. Without the protection of these soldiers, they would only face certain death.

"The enemy is all cavalry, and we are all infantry. We can never outrun them. Someone has to stay behind to cover our retreat and draw away the pursuers!"

"I am the highest-ranking officer here, so I will stay behind to lead our guard unit and draw away the pursuers. The rest of you should leave now!" Ogasawara Saburo sighed and shook his head.

"Lieutenant Colonel, I'll stay behind and draw the pursuers away. You lead the others and go first!" Major Aoki stepped forward and said loudly.

Aoki was also a graduate of the Army War College, and Saburo Ogasawara had always taken good care of him. Aoki also greatly admired his senior.

At this dangerous moment, Aoki stepped forward, wanting to repay his senior for his care.

“Your rank is too low, how can you command an army? As the commander, how can I abandon the soldiers and run away first! You stay with me!” Ogasawara Saburo said with a resolute expression.

Ogasawara Saburo was willing to stay behind to draw away the pursuers, and the other officers naturally had no objections. One by one, they came over to thank him with great gratitude!

"Everyone, don't be so polite, get ready to get up! Just leave us enough weapons and supplies!"

"No problem, no problem!" The men didn't think much of Ogasawara Saburo's preparation of military rations.

Since the goal is to draw away the pursuers, a long journey is inevitable. Preparing ample supplies is therefore a reasonable precaution.

Soon the main force split into two parts, with Saburo Ogasawara selecting five or six hundred men to stay behind.

"Ogasawara-kun, we'll be going now. Until we meet again!" The officers came to say goodbye.

"You guys should hurry up and leave! We don't know how long we can hold out, so let's not waste any more time!" Ogasawara Saburo waved his hand.

"Good, good!" The officers quickly left with all the vehicles and logistics personnel.

Saburo Ogasawara watched the departing figure, a sinister smile creeping across his lips. "Don't blame me," he thought, "if we're all together, no one can escape."

I have a long life ahead of me, I can't die with idiots like you!

"Lieutenant Colonel, how should we fight?" Major Aoki interrupted Saburo Ogasawara's thoughts.

"Clear the way!" Ogasawara Saburo waved his hand and led his men off the main road and into a side path.

"Ogasawara-kun, weren't we supposed to lure the pursuers away?" Fujiwara Susumu asked as he rode up on horseback.

"I lied to them! Fujiwara-kun, there are so many pursuers. And they're all cavalry! How could we possibly hold them off!" Ogasawara Saburo shook his head.

“You…” Fujiwara Susumu hadn’t expected that Ogasawara Saburo, who had just been so eloquent, would actually have such a plan.

He claims he drew away the pursuers for them, but it's more likely he had others distract them.

"Fujiwara-kun, think about it. There are so many of us, and we're mostly support personnel with little combat capability. Do you think we can escape the enemy's pursuit?"

"Since we can't shake off the pursuers, why can't we preserve our most capable fighters? I'm doing this for the sake of the empire; these people can play a greater role in future battles."

Fujiwara Susumu was someone Ogasawara Saburo specifically left behind, because having a skilled doctor by your side is very helpful when you're escaping for your life.

He's afraid of death, yet he talks about thinking of the empire—shameless! Fujiwara no Susumu isn't stupid; he can figure out Ogasawara Saburo's true intentions just by thinking about it.

He felt deeply ashamed of his behavior of sending others to their deaths while he ran away. But he was powerless to do anything about it; he couldn't very well go back and chase after the main force!

Forget about catching up; I doubt Saburo Ogasawara will let me leave anyway! Sigh!

Ogasawara selected only elite soldiers, and they were all lightly equipped. The limited supplies were carried on the backs of dozens of horses, allowing them to advance at a very fast pace.

Soon they were several miles away from the main road!

In a small grove of trees, Saburo Ogasawara stopped and let everyone rest. He asked a guard to bring out a map and then took out a compass to check the direction.

Then he led his soldiers southwest!

The officers dared not ask where they were going. But as long as they weren't left behind to fight a stalemate, the soldiers and officers were already very happy.

After nearly an hour of fighting, they finally eliminated the enemies on the two small hills. Zhang Shishou breathed a sigh of relief.

Damn it, these Japanese are really tough to deal with! They fight like madmen, and even with our relentless bombardment and over twenty machine guns firing, we still couldn't break their ranks.

He was forced to send his entire regiment off their horses to fight, which allowed him to wipe them all out. He himself suffered nearly a hundred casualties.

"Leave one company behind to tend to the wounded and clean up the battlefield! The rest of you, mount up and continue the pursuit!"

Damn it! I wonder if we'll even be able to catch up with the First Division headquarters after all this time.

After an hour of pursuit, just as Zhang Shishou was about to give up, the scout returned with a man.

"Reporting to the regimental commander, this militiaman has an important military intelligence report!" The scout leader stepped forward with a young man.

"Zhao Mantun, militia company commander of the Korean Battalion, reporting to his superior!" Militia member Zhao Mantun stood at attention and gave Zhang Shishou a standard military salute.

"Hello! Brother Mantun!" Zhang Shishou also returned a solemn military salute.