Floods have turned the area into an ocean. Although the Yangtze River basin is not the rainy season and the number of the Yangtze River is not large, the topography of this lake is far below the height of the Yangtze River waterway. It's just that the river that originally flowed into this lake has stopped. So people blocked the outlet, and the lake slowly dried up. Eventually it became a fertile plain. This time, Cai Yi used it to trap tens of thousands of elite troops in Beiyang. It can be called a strange memory.

"General, it's the marshal, the marshal has come to pick us up!" The soldiers who accompanied Wu Peifu shouted excitedly.

Wu Peifu, who was standing on the bamboo raft, had a gloomy face to the extreme. Although the Beiyang army tried its best, in the end it did not break through the second line of defense of the new army. Therefore, the number of bamboo rafts that can be grabbed is limited. Of the tens of thousands of troops, less than 10,000 were able to get on a bamboo raft. Others were either lying on some floating objects or completely swallowed by the water.

"Damn Cai Yi!" Wu Peifu looked at the Southwest New Army who was gradually moving away on a bamboo raft. A devouring glow appeared on his face. The war caused a lot of losses to the new army, but the remaining bamboo rafts were barely enough for them to use. It was only after seeing Cao Kun bring people to support that Cai had to give up the opportunity to beat the water dogs.

I didn't expect that I was so cautious, but I still fell in love with Cai Yi's way.

"Move closer to Dashuai, let's quickly dock, and then send a bamboo raft back to search and rescue our people." Wu Peifu commanded. It's a residential area, after all. The wooden furniture and fallen trees in the residents' homes are suspended on the water, which is called a good life-saving thing for the Beiyang soldiers, as long as they search and rescue in time, the losses of the Beiyang Army can be minimized.

The rescue team brought by Cao Kun included fishing boats, bamboo rafts, and wooden rafts, and although they seemed to be hasty, they were well prepared.

"Ziyu, Ziyu, are you okay!" Far away, I heard Cao Kun's anxious shout. The concern in his voice made a seven-foot iron man like Wu Peifu can't help but have a sour nose.

"Dashuai, Ziyu is sorry for you, our army is finished!" Wu Peifu said bitterly.

"Ziyu, now is not the time to talk about this, the top priority should be to search and rescue our people. As for the hatred with the southwest, we will find it back sooner or later. Cao Kun looked at the new army in the southwest in the distance, and could only sigh in vain. Now such a "fleet" of theirs is barely able to transport people. Don't even think about fighting a war. Fighting on the water with this kind of thing, I'm afraid that before the war begins, these bamboo rafts will fall apart first.

"Handsome ......," Wu Peifu said with some emotion.

"Ziyu, you go back and rest first! I'll take care of the matter here! "Wu Peifu's efforts on the way into Sichuan are all in Cao Kun's eyes, and this failure is not Wu Peifu's fault. Speaking of his own reasons, if he hadn't always thought about fighting with Cai Yi and giving the Beiyang direct family a long face, Wu Peifu would never have made the decision to enter this low-lying land to fight a decisive battle with the enemy, nor would the enemy seize the opportunity to blow up the Yangtze River embankment, divert the flood to irrigate, and flood the Beiyang army.

Temporary garrison of the New Army in the Southwest.

Cai Ye has already changed out of the wet clothes, and the whole person's mental state is much better, although he has the most dangerous medical team Liaoyang by his side, but limited to the willingness of the congenital physique, Cai Ye's body is still not very good. Far less healthy than a normal person.

In this battle, the new army sacrificed nearly 30,000 people and was swallowed by the flood, and the 70,000 army in Cai Yi's hands shrank by half in this battle. Although the rest can be called elite. But the elimination rate of nearly half still made Cai Ye feel extremely distressed. He knew that Beiyang must have suffered heavy losses. However, the exact number is not clear. However, the equipment of the tens of thousands of troops in Beiyang must be completely exhausted. Especially the heavy artillery regiment of Beiyang heavy gold equipment. It was completely swallowed up by the flood. If you want to recycle, you can only wait until the water recedes and you can find it in the sludge. Or sail into a warship to salvage. It's just that this is the territory of the southwest, and if it is salvaged, it will also be cheaper for the new army in the southwest. Moreover, it is impossible to re-equip such a thing as heavy artillery in a short period of time. After all, at the current price of world arms, the cost of equipping a heavy artillery regiment is staggering. The warlords and bigwigs in the country may not be willing to spend this money. After all, this money will allow them to easily equip two divisions of infantry. Anyway, the population of the Republic of China is large, and the price of infantry equipment is relatively low. The weapons and equipment of Western countries cannot be obtained. Domestic arsenals are still capable of production. Although the quality and durability are inferior, the price can be half cheaper.

With the continuous commissioning of large-scale projects in the Northeast Arsenal, the military production capacity of the Northeast has reached complete self-sufficiency, and it is even exported to foreign countries. Of course, what is sold to China is basically the old-fashioned equipment replaced by the Northeast Army. Anyway, the warlords in the country don't know the goods, as long as they repair and wipe those arms, they can sell them for a good price. However, what flowed into the foreign military market was the standard weapon of the Northeast, the Chinese 16-Type Rifle. Of course, the target is mainly small Western countries. At present, the Western military powers basically use US weapons, and although American weapons are expensive, their quality is guaranteed, and Japanese weapons are also relatively popular with Westerners. Although Japan's weapons are less lethal, their prices are lower than those of the United States. As for the Northeast, which exports in small quantities, it is not even small in the world arms market. And the arms deal in the Northeast is very secret. Even many of the countries that sell weapons do not know the identity of the people they deal with.

When the news of Cai Yi's flooding of the Beiyang Army spread, the whole country was in an uproar. For a time, the merry general Cai Ye became famous, and some people even compared him with Guan Gong, the martial saint who flooded the Seventh Army in history. Of course, these are just the lace articles of those small newspapers, and the major domestic newspapers pay more attention to the impact of Beiyang's defeat on the situation of the entire Republic of China. This is already the fourth large-scale defeat since the start of the Beiyang War. Although there were small victories during this period, this did not reverse the fact that Beiyang's combat effectiveness declined.

Beijing. For a time, the prosperous city of Beijing suddenly appeared a twilight atmosphere. Different from the original performance when Beiyang lost, this time Vice President Feng Guozhang, who was diligent and diligent, did not go to the Prime Minister's Office again, and the entire Vice Presidential Palace was directly closed to visitors, and no one was seen.

In the vice presidential palace, Feng Guozhang stayed in the telegraph room in a daze. It's been three hours, and Vice President Feng has been waiting for three hours with a gloomy expression.

Tick! The telegraph machine rang.

Feng Guozhang's face was shocked.

"President, Southwest Cao Shuai is in an emergency!"

"Hurry up!"

"Yes! Your Excellency, the unit to which the Ministry of Labor is located and the Republic of China found the main force of the new army commanded by Cai Ye in Lincun on December 3, the fifth year of the Republic of China. Vice Marshal Wu Peifu personally led an army of 50,000 to rush away. While the two sides were in the middle of a battle, the New Army suddenly blew up the Yangtze River embankment. Divert flood water. At this moment of crisis, Vice Marshal Wu Peifu took the opportunity to launch an all-out assault on the enemy and snatched thousands of bamboo rafts hidden by the Southwest New Army. Save the lives of tens of thousands of soldiers. Later, I led reinforcements to arrive. Search and rescue of the entire body of water. So far, the entire body of water has been searched, and all the surviving soldiers have been rescued. The division lost more than 18,800 troops, of which about 10,000 were killed in the war with the new army in the southwest, and more than 8,000 were judged to have been wounded and swallowed up by the flood and disappeared. The department is now reorganizing the soldiers and horses. Count specific losses. This defeat is not a crime of war, but it is actually that Cai Ye in the southwest is too ruthless, leading the flood to pour back, flooding hundreds of villages, and many of the people in the village who have not had time to escape are also buried in the flood. This kind of thing that people and gods are angry about, Cai Ye should be ashamed of the nation! ……”

Feng Guozhang, who listened to the telegram with emotion, frowned.

"Twenty thousand troops lost! Heavy weapons are all lost. There is no one in ten weapons. Ammunition is also basically wasted! Ay! Fortunately, the army was not completely annihilated, otherwise Beiyang would really be in a big mess! Feng Guozhang sighed faintly.

Chancellery!

Duan Qirui felt a blackness in front of him. Another big defeat, this is already the first time. Could it be that Beiyang is really a bad year? The rabble drawn from the local overseers failed, and so did the elite armies of the Beiyang. This makes Duan Qirui, who has high hopes for Beiyang, embarrassed.

If there was no tiger like Northeast China, Duan Qirui might be happy for this loss in Beiyang. After all, the Anhui and direct lines are not dealing with each other. Sooner or later, there will be a battle between the two sides after they have wiped out all foreign enemies.

"Prime Minister, what should I do about this matter?"

"Wait!" Duan Qirui said with a gloomy expression.

"In addition, we are stepping up contact with the Japanese. Shandong could not give them away. But the three eastern provinces, with the exception of Mukden, could be a condition for negotiations. However, I also have one condition, and that is to let Japan send troops as soon as possible. "Crisis, crisis. Now Duan Qirui's mind is full of crisis awareness. After all, Beiyang's continuous losses have seriously weakened its strength. Under the elimination of the other's strengths, Beiyang will slowly open up the gap with the Northeast. Once Beiyang weakens to a certain extent, the next thing to face will definitely be the attack of the Northeast Thunderball. Duan Qirui was well aware of the covetousness of these local overseers for the central government. With such a good opportunity, Feng Yong will definitely not give up.

"Report Prime Minister, Southwest issued a nationwide electrification! The Governor's Mansion of the Southwest and the Gui family of Liangguang have openly formed an alliance! ”

"What?" Duan Qirui stood up in shock!

"Are you sure it's an alliance between Liangguang and the Southwest?" Duan Qirui asked incredulously.

"Yes, Lu Yuguang, the young marshal of Liangguang, came to Chengdu, where the Southwest Governor was stationed, to negotiate with Liu Yunfeng, the deputy governor of the Southwest Governor's Office. In the end, the two sides reached an agreement. The announcement was made just three minutes ago. The squire said.

"Got it! Order the War Department to issue an order to transfer Xu Shuzheng's troops and Cao Kun's troops back to the station! After saying this, Duan Qirui's strength seemed to be drained. Once his order was issued, it meant that his plan to conquer the southwest was completely bankrupt, and the southwest won the war. This is a heavy blow to Beiyang.

"Prime Minister, do you need to contact Vice President Feng?"

"Go ahead, do some Liso! Ay! The days after Beiyang are going to be difficult! Duan Rui turned around and entered the study, venting the resentment in his heart

(To be continued)