readx; "I knew that Pan Juying was unreliable, 10,000 people guarded Chuzhou, and there were friendly forces nearby to contain and support, but I still lost Chuzhou!" Duan Qirui is not much better than Yuan Shikai, in the morning Duan Qirui personally went to Yuan Shikai to report the news of the loss of Chuzhou, and Yuan Shikai's face changed greatly when he learned the news, Rao is good concentration did not lift the table on the spot, but pretended to be calm and asked a few words in detail, when Duan Qirui told the details that Pan Juying's more than 7,000 people had retreated to Chuzhou yesterday afternoon, and there were only 3,000 remnants left to retreat to Jiangbei, Yuan Shikai's face was already pale at that time, and then asked Xu Shuzheng's 11th division where it was, why hasn't the Jinpu line been opened to Chuzhou? Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

Duan Qirui also replied honestly: "Xu Shuzheng's 11th Division has been blocked in Shahe Town for nearly ten days!" ”

At that time, Yuan Shikai stared at Duan Qirui for a while, revealing a sentence: "Ten days still can't take a Shahe Town?" ”

Duan Qirui knew that Yuan Shikai already wanted to sprinkle his anger on Xu Shuzheng, and sprinkling it on Xu Shuzheng was also sprinkling it on him, so he immediately justified: "There is the main force of the National Army blocking Shahe Town, not to mention more than 20,000 people, and the 11th Division is also powerless!" ”

Yuan Shikai wanted to say something, but after seeing Duan Qirui for a long time, he didn't say anything else, but waved his hand to let Duan Qirui go out, but as soon as Duan Qirui turned around, he heard a plopping sound behind him, and when he turned around, he saw that Yuan Shikai's short and fat body had fallen to the ground, and he immediately shouted for someone, and urgently called a doctor to visit, and after a while, Yuan Shikai woke up, but his body was extremely weak, and he commanded in a weak tone after calling Duan Qirui: " The Jinpu line has a bearing on the survival of our entire Beiyang and must not be lost. Now that the situation in Jiangbei is afraid that it can't be maintained, you send a message to Huapu, so that he can abide by the rules, and if he can't keep it, he will return. After Jiangbei is lost, we can fight back, if the second army loses ......"

Yuan Shikai didn't say the latter words, but Duan Qirui didn't understand the priority of the matter.

When it was discovered that the Nationalist Army was going to attack Chuzhou, there was a quarrel within the Beiyang Army over whether to give up Jiangbei, but none of the high-ranking people of the Beiyang Army, such as Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang, dared to give up Jiangbei lightly. Jiangbei is the bridgehead of the Jinpu line, and it is also important because of the Yangtze River, and the capture of Jiangbei is extremely important for the Nationalist Army, and the same is also extremely important for the Beiyang Army, once Jiangbei is lost, then the Nationalist Army can continue north along the Jinpu Line to threaten Shandong, which is controlled by the Beiyang Army, and in fact control Anhui, and then launch an offensive against Henan. At that time, the Beiyang Army will lose a large number of control areas, and the hometown in the north will be directly threatened, completely shaking the rule of Beiyang in the north.

In addition, there is an extremely important point that in order to have a decisive battle with the Nationalist Army, the Beiyang Army has invested heavy troops along the Jinpu Line, especially in the Jiangbei area, not to mention Cao Kun's Third Division, which has been defeated in Anhui, as well as the Fifth, Seventh, Tenth, and Second Mixed Brigades of Feng Guozhang's Second Army. Now we have to add a mixed brigade of Pan Juying's 20th Division. Moreover, these troops are all descendants of the Beiyang Army, not those temporarily formed mixed brigades or local provincial armies, and the troops in the Jiangbei region have already accounted for nearly half of the Beiyang Army's descendants.

And so many troops are deployed in Jiangbei, it is not that they can be withdrawn, and if they are not done well, they will evolve into a full-scale rout and then bury nearly half of the Beiyang Army.

It is precisely because of many concerns that neither Feng Guozhang nor Duan Qirui dare to give up Jiangbei lightly, even Yuan Shikai himself does not dare to say anything about retreat easily, most of them still hope that Xu Shuzheng's 11th Division can reopen the Jinpu line, hope that Pan Juying can hold Chuzhou, and hope that Jiangbei's 7th and 5th Divisions and the 2nd Mixed Brigade can resist the attack of the Nationalist Army from the east and west.

However, hope is hope after all, and the Beiyang Army has actually become a disadvantaged side since the Battle of Hefei, and without the containment of Cao Kun's Third Division, a descendant of the Beiyang Army, the Nationalist Army in the Anhui direction will be able to draw enough troops to besiege Chuzhou and cut off the Jinpu line.

Whether it is the direction of Shahe Town, the direction of Chuzhou, or the direction of Wugang, the national army has an advantage in strength. In the face of the blow of the superior forces of the Nationalist Army, it was difficult for the Beiyang Army to hold on without strong reinforcements.

However, at this time, it was impossible for the Beiyang Army to have too many reinforcements, and the 11th Division, which was originally used as reinforcements, had been used in the direction of Shahe Town, and Pan Juying's 20th Division was divided into two parts, one part was in Chuzhou, and the other brigade went to Huai'an. As for Meng Enyuan's 23rd Division, it was not long after entering Xuzhou from Shandong, but in order to prevent the front line from being completely corrupted, Yuan Shikai personally ordered Meng Enyuan to stand still and build fortifications in Xuzhou to consolidate the defense line, which is the last main force of the Beiyang Army on the Jinpu line and even the entire Jiangsu, Anhui and Shandong, and it is impossible to use it casually, after all, if the Nationalist Army makes a breakthrough in Qingjiangpu, it will reach Xuzhou, if a large number of Beiyang Army is still fighting on the front line, Xuzhou is captured by the Nationalist Army, Then there is no need to fight this battle, and the more than 100,000 Beiyang troops on the front line will surrender directly.

As for the Gyeonggi area, there are also the first division and the sixteenth division, these two troops have always been regarded by Yuan Shikai as guards troops, and it is impossible to move easily, but with the tension of the front, Yuan Shikai still transferred the first division to prepare to go south, but it will take some time for all to go south to reach the front line.

In a short period of time, the Beiyang Army near Jiangbei could not be reinforced.

There were no reinforcements in a short period of time, the railway supply line was cut off, a large amount of ammunition was consumed in the fierce battle but was not replenished, and it was surrounded by several sides, and even the back road had been cut off, which caused a great morale blow to the Beiyang Army in the Jiangbei area.

Under such circumstances, the collapse of the Beiyang Army has become inevitable, and the first to collapse will inevitably be the more than 7,000 people of Pan Juying, who participated in a large-scale war for the first time. In such a situation, Pan Juying's subordinates were able to hold out for half a month in the face of the attack of the superior forces of the national army.

Pan Juying was defeated and Chuzhou was lost, and the victory or defeat of the Jiangbei Battle was almost immediately announced. There is no doubt that the Nationalist Army has won this crucial battle, and all the Beiyang Army can do next is to minimize losses, as for the attempt to continue to hold Jiangbei, Yuan Shikai has no hope for this.

The old man's idea is obvious, and Duan Qirui also understands it thoroughly, that is, since the situation in Jiangbei is irreparable, then it is necessary to try to protect Feng Guozhang's second army. Although Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang fought openly and secretly, even Yuan Shikai was extremely dissatisfied with Feng Guozhang's dominance, but when it came to a thousand ways and ten thousand, Feng Guozhang's Second Army was a genuine Beiyang lineage, and if Feng Guozhang's Second Army was completely annihilated by the Nationalist Army in Jiangbei, needless to say, the Beiyang system would collapse immediately. Without Feng Guozhang's Second Army in front of him, Duan Qirui did not think that Xu Shuzheng's 11th Division would be able to block the northward movement of the Nationalist Army, even if it was to deploy defenses in the Shandong area of Xuzhou in the future and transfer the 1st and 16th Divisions up, but this also took time, and if Feng Guozhang's Second Army was not blocked in this process, it would be impossible to complete the defensive line layout of Shandong and northern Jiangsu.

Yuan Shikai wanted Feng Guozhang to retreat, Duan Qirui also supported this idea, and after Feng Guozhang learned that Chuzhou was lost, without Yuan Shikai and the War Department to order, they themselves had already begun to gather troops to prepare for a breakthrough.

"Chuzhou has been lost, and our army has been trapped in Jiangbei for half a month, and the ammunition reserves of all departments are already insufficient to support five days, in this case, breaking through is already the only option!" Jin Yunpeng's face was as heavy as the others present, and he said with a worried face.

"The withdrawal is certain, the question is where to withdraw and how?" Feng Guozhang, as always, said the key point of the problem.

Wang Ruxian said: "I think you can go directly north, turn west and arrive at Shahe after returning to Lai'an, or directly bypass Shahe and return to the Jinpu line and directly withdraw to Bengbu to restart the defensive operation." ”

Wang Ruxian had experienced two defeats, so that his Seventh Division lost more than half of them in Taizhou and Yangzhou, and now his face was also extremely tired, and his expression was not as proud as before, and his suggestions now were extremely pertinent.

In fact, if the Beiyang Army wants to retreat, it is relatively easy, and the current Beiyang Army is mainly distributed in nearly 100 square kilometers around Jiangbei, with the remnants of the Seventh Division and the 1st Regiment of the 5th Division in [***], the 2nd Mixed Brigade and the 1st Regiment of the 5th Division in Pukou, and Tang Tianxi's 11th Division in the direction of Wugang. The Fifth Division still has a part of its troops in Taishan Town, Jiangbei, and Jiejiazhuang. As for the remnants of Pan Juying's 20th Division, they were preparing to retreat to Wuyi Town. The offensive direction of the relative Nationalist Army was also in the east, west, and northwest directions, but there was no Nationalist Army in the open field area directly north of Jiangbei, that is, in the eastern part of the Jinpu Line.

Therefore, if the Beiyang Army can gather the main forces to retreat to the north, it should be feasible.

But the problem is that if the Beiyang Army wants to run, the Nationalist Army will definitely pursue, and if the front-line troops are entangled by the Nationalist Army, how can they retreat. In this way, if the front-line troops want to break through to the withdrawal front, then it is definitely necessary to have a part of the troops left to attract the firepower of the national army and cover the retreat of the main force.

For this point, many generals of the Beiyang Army at the meeting understood and agreed, but the key point of the problem is not here, but who will go first and who will stay to cover.

In other words, who will go first to live, and who will stay and die?