readx; Since Chen Jingyun openly reconvened the National Assembly in Nanjing, established the Generalissimo's Office, and announced the official Northern Expedition in July, the war between the Nationalist Army and the Beiyang Army has already broken out in an all-round way, and it was the Hunan region that first ignited the flames of war, and the Fourth Army of the Nationalist Army has joined forces with the First Division and One Brigade of the Fifth Army of Lu Rongting's Gui Army and the First Division of the Seventh Army of Tang Jiyao's Dian Army to jointly attack the Hunan region. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

In July, the Beiyang Army and the Nationalist Army in southern Jiangsu and Anhui were preparing for the decisive battle, the Nationalist Army was preparing to launch a crossing of the river to capture Anhui and then cut off the Jinpu line, while the Beiyang Army also planned to cross the Yangtze River from southern Anhui to capture Wuhu, cross the Yangtze River moat and wave the army in southern Jiangsu. However, the Nationalist Army took the first step to complete the preparations for the north, and took the lead in launching the battle of crossing the river, and then in August, the two sides fought fiercely around Chaohu Lake for 20 days, the battle line spread for nearly 100 miles, and the fierce fighting also bypassed the heavy losses on both sides, and the loss of Chaohu Lake allowed the Reading Brigade under the Third Division of the Beiyang Army and the Third Division of the Anhui Provincial Army to be eliminated as a formation. The various units of the Nationalist Army also suffered several thousand casualties, and the Fifth Mixed Brigade once lost its combat effectiveness and had to stay in Chaohu for rest.

In order to hold Hefei, Cao Kun concentrated all the remaining forces in his hands around Hefei, including the Fifth Brigade, the Sixth Brigade, the Third Artillery Regiment, the Third Cavalry Regiment and the rest of the divisional headquarters under the Third Division of the Beiyang Army, as well as the first and second divisions of the Anhui Provincial Army, with an overall strength of more than 25,000 people.

Cao Kun roughly divided these troops into three parts, one was Zhang Hongkui's 6th Brigade of more than 4,000 men and Hu Wantao's 2nd Division of the Anhui Provincial Army of more than 6,000 people, and in front of them was the 6th Division of the Nationalist Army. Hu Wantao's Second Division of the Anhui Provincial Army retreated all the way from Anqing to Feixi, and it can be said that it was chased and beaten by the Nationalist Army all the way, not to mention the many losses of troops, and the morale of the army was unstable and plummeted, if it were not for the support of more than 4,000 people of Zhang Hongkui's Sixth Brigade of the Third Division of the Beiyang Army, Hu Wantao's Second Division of the Anhui Provincial Army would have collapsed long ago.

So this way, on the surface, there are 10,000 troops in the way, but in fact, more than 4,000 people of the Sixth Brigade can be used.

"Brother Zhang came to ask for ammunition again today, saying that the ammunition consumption on the front line is extremely high!" Xiao Yaonan, the chief of staff of the Third Division, also had a bitter face.

Cao Kun said: "His side is fighting harder, and he needs more ammunition!" But is the current situation on Feixi's side confirmed? Is it one division or two divisions of the National Army? ”

Xiao Yaonan said: "Some time ago, we always got a report that there were two national army divisions, but these news were all reported by Hu Wantao, and they can't be counted. During this time, the Sixth Brigade had fought many times with the Nationalist Army in the direction of Feixi, and they had already figured out their numbers, and it was indeed the Sixth Division of the Nationalist Army. However, for the time being, the number of the second national army division has not been found! ”

At this time, Wu Peifu on the side also said: "I think there should be only one division, we also know one or two about the establishment of the National Army, a division is about 10,000 people, and the weapons and equipment are not much worse than our old Beiyang, judging from the record of the second division of the Anhui Provincial Army at the front end, the other side should have only one division, otherwise Hu Wantao would not be able to go all the way back to Feixi!" ”

As a front-line commander, Wu Peifu has fought with the Nationalist Army many times, whether it was the Battle of Southern Jiangsu last year, the Chaohu War not long ago, or the ongoing Hefei War, he was personally on the front line to lead the army, and he still had some understanding of the combat effectiveness of the Nationalist Army.

"The other party only has one division, let Brother Zhang be careful, and it won't be a problem to delay it for another ten days and half a month!" Wu Peifu said cautiously, it is impossible to expect the 6th Brigade to defeat a main division of the opponent with only 4,000 people, but it can still be done when it drags on for half a month.

"Now our problem is that in the east, especially the offensive of the Ninth Division of the National Army, is too fierce, and our troops have suffered heavy casualties! If it drags on like this, I'm afraid it won't take three or five days for my Fifth Brigade to collapse! Wu Peifu is obviously more worried about herself

The second part of the Hefei garrison was Wu Peifu's Fifth Brigade and the remaining direct troops of the Third Division in the east of Hefei, which combined with about 7,000 people, and in front of them was the Ninth Division of the Nationalist Army. Wu Peifu had already fought a battle with the Ninth Division in Caijiagang during the Battle of Chaohu, and at that time, his troops were at an absolute disadvantage, so he naturally retreated quickly, but only a short contact also gave him an intuitive understanding of the powerful firepower of the enemy's Ninth Division.

"This Ninth Division of the Nationalist Army is completely different from the main division of the Nationalist Army that we knew before, judging from the battles we have fought with them during this time, their artillery strength is no less than that of the artillery regiment of our Third Division, and judging from the power of the explosion, there may be large-caliber artillery of more than four inches. However, the intelligence returned from Jiangbei said that the reading artillery regiment of the National Army was still deployed in Jiangbei and had not been transferred, and it was very likely that it was the second heavy artillery battalion newly built by the National Army. "Wu Peifu is not an immortal, although he knows that there are small and medium-caliber mortars in the National Army, but he has not yet thought that the National Army still has a 120 mm heavy mortar.

Wu Peifu continued: "In addition to the artillery strength is larger than that of ordinary Nationalist troops, the machine-gun firepower under them also exceeds that of ordinary Nationalist Army, and even surpasses ours, three days ago, when a battalion under our subordinate attacked a position of the enemy's Ninth Division, the opponent was only defended by more than 300 people, but there were at least two heavy machine guns and more than ten light machine guns. This situation is not found in other national armies, and as far as I know, there are only three or five light and heavy machine guns in a battalion of six or seven hundred men of the enemy's Eighth Division in front of Brother Ni. In addition to their machine guns, they are also equipped with a lot of small guns, and according to my opinion, there are at least five or six in a battalion. ”

Xiao Yaonan said: "Brother Wu is right, the firepower of the enemy's Ninth Division has far exceeded that of other enemy troops, I expect that this should be the main force of the National Army, otherwise there will be no five or six small cannons and more than ten machine guns!" ”

In fact, Wu Peifu and Xiao Yaonan, these Beiyang generals, still underestimated the weapons and equipment of the Ninth Division, as the latest expanded troops, greatly strengthened the strength of machine guns and mortars, and the heavy machine guns were expanded from 18 to 36 in 1912, so that each infantry regiment had a 12-gun heavy machine gun company, and the regiment's six-gun 80-millimeter mortar company was expanded to a 12-gun mortar battalion, and the regiment's support firepower was directly doubled. The battalion's machine gun battery was also expanded to eight light machine guns and eight 60-mm mortars. However, in terms of regimental support firepower, it has exceeded twice as much as the Beiyang Army and other national armies.

In addition, during the Anhui War, the Second Army also strengthened the 120-mm heavy mortar battalion in its hands to the Ninth Division, which is why Wu Peifu judged that the Ninth Division of the Nationalist Army had large-caliber heavy artillery of more than four inches.

Although the equipment of the Ninth Division has been lost in previous battles, this loss has not hurt the bones, and the rear has been constantly replenishing the front line, in addition to the supply of ammunition, there is naturally a replenishment of weapons, so that the Ninth Division has always maintained a relatively complete weapon and equipment structure.

Cao Kun listened to these words above, and his heart was also depressed: "Why is this national army getting stronger and stronger, although the weapons and equipment of the national army were not bad last year, they have not surpassed the Beiyang Army, but now how can there be a ninth division, and its equipment even exceeds its own third division!" ”

"Didn't the main force of the National Army say the First Division and their guard division, but I heard that the Ninth Division in front of me has only been in the army for less than a year, and it only arrived in southern Jiangsu half a year ago, and it participated in the war to attack southern Anhui, how did it become the main force of the National Army?" Cao Kun wondered in his heart, but he didn't dwell on these questions.

"Now our artillery regiment has suffered great losses, and it is a problem to suppress the enemy's artillery fire so much!" Cao Kun said: "In this short period of time, don't take the initiative to attack, try to save your strength and wait for reinforcements!" ”

"But when will that Xu Shuzheng come?" Wu Peifu said: "He said that he had been going south for half a month, and he had not moved since he arrived in Bengbu. ”

Wu Peifu was very dissatisfied with Xu Shuzheng's 11th Division's refusal to enter Anhui to reinforce his own side, after all, whoever fought and died on the front line, but his own people in the back were unstable and could not stand it.

It is not surprising that Wu Peifu has this idea, and the reason why Xu Shuzheng is reluctant to go south naturally has his reasons, when he was in Xuzhou before, it was because he wanted to preserve his strength and wait for the development of the current situation, and then Yuan Shikai was very dissatisfied with this, and Duan Qirui was not allowed to let Xu Shuzheng continue to go south, which took a long time before arriving in Bengbu. But as soon as he arrived in Bengbu, Xu Shuzheng hesitated again.

Because on the one hand, Feng Guozhang urged him to go south to Chuzhou for reinforcements every day, saying that there was a lot of pressure in Jiangbei now, and Tang Tianxi's 10th Division and Yu Youfu's 2nd Mixed Brigade in the direction of Wugang west of Chuzhou were under great pressure in the face of more than 20,000 people of the Nationalist Army, in order to ensure that Chuzhou was not lost, in order to ensure that Jiangbei did not have problems, Feng Guozhang strongly asked Xu Shuzheng to continue to go south to Chuzhou, on the one hand, to sit in Xuzhou to prevent possible sneak attacks by the Nationalist Army, and on the other hand, to reinforce the Wugang direction or Jiangbei on the front line at any time. Feng Guozhang wanted Xu Shuzheng to continue Nanxi, but Cao Kun also strongly asked Xu Shuzheng to go south to Huainan and go south along the Changfeng Road to reinforce Hefei, and said that Hefei had reached the last moment, if he didn't come to reinforcements, then he Cao Kun couldn't hold Hefei, and when he couldn't hold it, he Cao Kun might not be able to turn around and run away with the troops.