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Late on the night of 20 May, the contest between the National Defense Army and the Beiyang Army was still in full swing on the battlefield in northern Jiangsu. Although the morale of the Fourth Army was greatly boosted because of the rapid advance of several other armies, and the inferior situation was restored, Cao Kun was a veteran of a hundred battles after all, and he quickly adjusted his operational deployment and used money to stimulate the fighting will of the front-line officers and men. A larger-scale attack was launched, and the results were very good. The balance of war has been tilted in favor of the North Ocean.

In the two consecutive days of life-and-death struggle, both the Wehrmacht and the Beiyang Army suffered heavy losses. The army of nearly one million was reduced by one-third in just two days. The front was generally moving towards the north, and this was the first time that the Wehrmacht had been suppressed on the battlefield and was in complete decline.

"Commander, I propose to immediately abandon part of the line of defense, concentrate all forces, and fight a war of movement. The consumption of positional warfare is too great, our logistical supply cannot be guaranteed, and our troops are also at a disadvantage. If this kind of fighting continues, it will be difficult for the Fourth Army to achieve victory even if it is exhausted. Chief of Staff Xu Zheng said.

"No, now the battlefield has reached the point where you have me, and I have you. Once we transfer troops on a large scale, it will inevitably lead to the collapse of the entire front, and when the time comes, Beiyang will concentrate our forces, and we will be crushed for thousands of miles. Guo Shanhu shook his head and rejected Xu Zheng's suggestion. The Wehrmacht is good at sports warfare, but that is when all of them are elite troops. At present, there are only 2560,000 people left in the Fourth Group Army, only 40,000 elite veterans in the Southwest Military Region, and no more than 80,000 qualified soldiers in the Shandong Military Region. They were taken to the battlefield without even completing the Wehrmacht's infantry drills. The Fourth Army was the only reserve army in the Wehrmacht's Fourth Route Army to participate in regular operations. Among the 100,000 men lost by the Wehrmacht in these two days of fighting, it was mainly these reserves.

Two days of brutal fighting have transformed the reserve army, but if you want to become a qualified soldier, it is not a day or two to form. The only thing that made Guo Shanhu more pleased was that after losing 20,000 people, the 100,000 people from the Shandong Military Region had finally matured and had the posture of elite veterans. This led to a rapid increase in the proportion of veterans in the entire Fourth Army. The battle losses of 100,000 men not only did not reduce the combat effectiveness of the Fourth Army, but on the contrary, increased. But it is clearly unrealistic to want the entire army group to engage in a war of movement. Those recruits will definitely collapse in the movement. It is precisely because of this clear thinking that Guo Shanhu will not hesitate to reject Xu Zheng's opinion.

"Report to the Chief of Staff, the Raptors Special Forces are in an emergency!" Xu Zheng, who was struggling to think of a way out of the predicament, was shocked when he heard the news. Hurriedly took the telegram and looked at it, with a look of joy on his face.

"Commander, good news, the Raptors Special Combat Team has successfully infiltrated Huai'an City and taken control of Huai'an City's baggage officers. Now they are using the Huai'an City Baggage Officer to disrupt the morale of the Beiyang Army. Liu Zhendong agreed with us that once a fire broke out in Huai'an City, the enemy would inevitably be in chaos, and it was the time for our army to take advantage of the chaos to counterattack. Xu Zheng said loudly.

"Is the message accurate? The baggage officer of Huai'an City has so much energy? Guo Shanhu asked with some disbehes. Even if the Beiyang Baggage Officers are high and powerful, it is difficult to influence the soldiers who are fighting on the front line! What's more, there is Cao Kun suppressed on the Beiyang front, who dares to make trouble.

According to Liu Zhendong's report, this baggage officer is the nephew of Cao Kun, the commander of the Beiyang Army, and has many contacts with the generals of Cao Kun's army. And Liu Zhendong has mastered his means of power-up, and now he is disrupting. Xu Zheng said.

Guo Shanhu turned to look at the map. Now the battlefield is more than 20 miles away from Huai'an City, and if Huai'an City really ignites a fire, it can be observed in the deep night. After pondering for a while, Guo Shanhu made up his mind, no matter whether the Raptors special combat team can succeed or not, it is worth a try for the Wehrmacht. Guo Shanhu said: "Chief of Staff, send a telegram to all divisions, brigades and regiments, let all the soldiers be on alert, and once they find that Huai'an City is on fire, they will immediately fight back with all their might." "Yes!" Xu Zheng said loudly. If Liu Zhendong's tactics can really succeed, it can play a reversal role in the entire battle situation.

The orders of the headquarters of the Fourth Army were a bit clueless, but no one in the divisions and regiments of the Wehrmacht dared to slack off, after all, the headquarters of the group army said solemnly, and there was no guarantee that something major would really happen tonight.

After two days of fighting, although the Wehrmacht front was retreating, the soldiers were retreating without disorder, and Beiyang could not take advantage of it, and the loss of troops was much larger than that of the Wehrmacht. Several large-scale attacks were repelled by the Wehrmacht, and the losses were not small. In the middle of the night, Beiyang also slowed down the offensive and let some of the soldiers continue to maintain pressure on the Defense Agency, and the remaining soldiers have taken the opportunity to rest. The battlefield in northern Jiangsu is related to the life and death of Beiyang, so naturally it will not be exempt from war at night like it fought in the past. Cao Kun was well aware of the war potential of the Wehrmacht, and once the offensive was weakened, the Wehrmacht would often recover much faster than the Beiyang Army, so even at night, the Beiyang would still maintain a certain offensive, so that the Wehrmacht was always under pressure, could not rest well, and rarely launched large-scale attacks.

At that time, the offensive of Beiyang slowly stopped. The whole battlefield became quiet, but the soldiers on the front line on both sides still did not dare to close their eyes, and they were all seizing the time to rest. No one can say for sure if there will be a larger battle next.

In the middle of the night, there was a commotion in the Beiyang Army, and the soldiers who had already fallen asleep no longer had the slightest sense of sleep, the reason was naturally a telegram from the rear.

"The city of Huai'an has been attacked by Wehrmacht troops, the town defenders have been routed, and now the enemy is besieging the baggage place. A large amount of food supplies were burned! This telegram was delivered to most of the generals in power in the Beiyang Army in a very short time, and it spread throughout the entire Beiyang Army in an extremely short time.

Command of the Beiyang Army.

"It can't be!" Cao Kun roared loudly. Cao Dashuai has always given people a kind feeling, and things like this kind of voiceless roar rarely happen. The main thing is that the impact of this incident on him is too great. The huge city guarded by 20,000 people was breached. An elite regiment guarding grain and grass has also been in turmoil, and the enemy can break through the entire Huai'an City, which shows that the strength is not small, and it is impossible to destroy that elite regiment without the slightest accident.

"Quickly contact the defenders in Huai'an City, I don't believe that Huai'an City has really been breached." Cao Kun said loudly. You must know that Huai'an City has hoarded the army's military pay and materials for more than a month, almost a quarter of all the materials in Beiyang, if Huai'an City is really broken, then the entire Beiyang army will face an extremely dangerous situation.

"Yes!" The combat staff officer left in a hurry.

In the middle of the ring, the combat staff officer came back dejectedly: "Report to the marshal, all the radio stations in Huai'an City cannot be contacted!" ”

"What!" Cao Kun's face turned pale. Then he staggered out of the command headquarters and took out his binoculars to look at Huai'an City in the distance.

"No fire! Send out the scouts, I want to find out what happened in Huai'an City! Cao Kun said in a deep voice.

"Yes, Dashuai!"

As soon as the combat staff officer walked out of the war room, a faint fire appeared in the direction of Huai'an City.

"Poof!" Cao Kun was so angry that he spit out a mouthful of blood, and the whole person fell to the ground, and the headquarters of the Beiyang Army was in chaos.

At the same time, all the soldiers of the Wehrmacht were engaged in the battle. At the same time, he shouted, "The Wehrmacht has broken through Huai'an City, and all the materials hoarded in Huai'an City have been burned!" ”

The clamor of the Wehrmacht and the Beiyang soldiers naturally did not believe it. But soon, the Beiyang soldiers had to believe it.

"Look, there's a fire in the direction of Huai'an City!" A sharp-eyed soldier shouted. The Beiyang soldiers around him became frightened. ..., "No ......! ”

"How is that possible!"

"There's an army of 20,000 guarding it! How did the Wehrmacht touch it? ”

"It must be fake!"

“……”

The Beiyang soldier shouted in disbelief, and everyone seemed to be drained of their spirit in an instant. If the Wehrmacht said that they did not believe it at all, but the fire in front of them made them have to believe it. It is precisely because of this strong contrast that the Beiyang soldiers have received a heavy spiritual blow. On the other hand, the Wehrmacht soldiers were in high spirits because of the firelight, and they were full of confidence in victory.

"Kill!" The earth-shattering shouts of killing resounded throughout the battlefield in northern Jiangsu. The Wehrmacht soldiers on the front of dozens of kilometers launched a counterattack at the same time, which caught the Beiyang Army by surprise and retreated one after another.

At the same time, the positions of the elite troops of the Beiyang Army were bombarded by the heavy artillery of the Wehrmacht, and with their extremely superior firepower, the concentrated heavy artillery units easily tore through the defense line of the Beiyang Army, and tens of thousands of Wehrmacht troops rushed into the Beiyang positions through the tear. With the cooperation of heavy artillery, the Beiyang Army began to have a situation of partial collapse.

On the Wehrmacht side, the momentum was like a rainbow, and the recruits, stimulated by this victorious atmosphere, showed unusually strong bravery. This is the advantage of a good wind, at such a time, even the common people who have just put down their hoes dare to make a move with a hundred battle generals, as for whether they can win or not, it is not a matter for the common people to consider. People have blood in their bodies, especially on the battlefield, young soldiers are more susceptible to the influence of morale in the army, so they disregard reason and show the most courageous side. By the time the soldiers master this blood and can control it rationally, then he will already become a qualified veteran.

Command of the Beiyang Army.

Cao Kun, who vomited blood, woke up quietly, and the whole person seemed to be much older.

"Dashuai, are you alright?"

Everyone asked with concern.

"Send a telegram to the army, leave the team behind the palace, and prepare to evacuate!" Cao Kun said a little weakly.

"Marshal, where are we withdrawing?" The combat staff officer asked.

"Go to Huai'an City, Zhang Lie, you immediately telegraph to Nanjing, and let Nanjing send a batch of supplies!" No matter what happened in Huai'an City, as long as there was food, the troops would not be able to disperse. Finally on the battlefield, the moment Cao Kun woke up, he knew that the battlefield form had already taken place, and if he did not take decisive action, the Beiyang Army was likely to collapse completely.

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