Faced with Yuan Shikai's question, Duan Qirui was momentarily speechless, yes, although the troops on the south bank of the Yangtze River still have some ammunition supplies, and there are still some stocks in the southern city of Nanjing, but if they continue to fight like this, the troops of Cao Kun and others, who lack supplies, will run out of ammunition and food sooner or later. At that time, what will the 30,000 people who have no ammunition supply use to hold on to the south bank of Nanjing and wait for Wang Ruxian's Seventh Division to go south to rescue?

"Then, do you want to send another division south for reinforcements?" Duan Qirui asked tentatively.

However, Yuan Shikai asked categorically: "If we continue to increase troops, where will the troops come from, the Beijing-Tianjin important land cannot leave no division, and the troops in the northeast are not easy to deploy." Furthermore, where does military spending come from? ”

In the face of so many predicaments, Duan Qirui was also difficult to speak, but Yuan Shikai continued to be silent, and said after a while: "Don't care about the rest, let Cao Kun withdraw to the south of Nanjing first, as for the rest of the matter, I have my own plans!" ”

Duan Qirui saw Yuan Shikai like this, so he stopped talking. After that, Yuan Shikai said: "In addition, continue to contact Huafu, there is an explanation of life or death!" Before finding Hua Fu, Cao Kun was appointed as the temporary commander of the Second Army to oversee the operations of the Second Army. ”

Yuan Shikai has this arrangement, and Duan Qirui is also prepared, after all, now the three divisions under the Second Army are trapped in the south bank of the Yangtze River, and Feng Guozhang is missing again, and there is always someone to take charge of this war. And the most suitable candidate for this candidate is Cao Kun, Cao Kun is the first person in the third echelon of the Beiyang system, deeply trusted by Yuan Shikai, and his status is second only to Duan Qirui and Feng Guozhang, and the rest of the division commanders and lieutenant generals are more or less still some distance.

However, Yuan Shikai did not directly promote Cao Kun to the commander of the Second Army in one fell swoop, but only temporarily served as the commander of the Second Army, which was not even a temporary position.

Duan Qirui then said goodbye, Yuan Shikai got up again with a hot teacup in his hand, and stood in front of the window, through the huge glass window, he could already see the first snow fluttering down outside the window, and the snowflakes like goose feathers fell silently, slowly dyeing the earth white.

The first snow of this winter has finally fallen, and with the arrival of the first snow, the cold air in the air seems to be thicker!

"The unification of China, why is it so difficult!" Yuan Shikai said to himself to the night sky, then tightened the coat on his body and turned to walk back, and the teacup in his hand was already cold, Yuan Shikai looked down at the teacup in his hand, and then let go of his hand, the teacup in his hand fell down, and in an instant, the teacup slammed into the ground and split into countless pieces.

Yuan Shikai stepped over the fragments of the teacup on the ground, walked to his huge desk and sat down, this night, Yuan Shikai had no sleep all night.

On the morning of the 22nd, the Seventh Division of the Nationalist Army conquered Dazhuo Town under the leadership of Lin Zhaomin, and the remnants of the Fifth Brigade of the Third Division of Tang Tianxi's Beiyang Army retreated northward, attempting to continue to establish a second line of defense. However, Lin Zhaomin did not stop the pace of the offensive, but continued to advance northward, trying to completely cut off the Shanghai-Nanjing railway.

In the afternoon, a regiment of Cao Kun's 3rd Division, which had retreated first last night, arrived at Tang Tianxi's headquarters for reinforcements, and then engaged in a fierce battle with Lin Zhaomin's 7th Division. In the evening, the main force of the 3rd Division arrived, and a fierce battle ensued between the main force of Cao Kun's 3rd Division and Lin Zhaomin's 7th Division.

Lin Zhaomin's 7th Division suffered heavy casualties, and although it continued to attack north, it could only watch as the main forces of Cao Kun's 3rd Division and Zhang Xun's 8th Division passed calmly five kilometers ahead. That night, Shen Gang's 1st Division and Li Jimin's 4th Division on the Zhenjiang side broke through the resistance of Cao Kun's rear army and were hurriedly pursuing Cao Kun's main force westward.

The next day, Shen Gang and Lin Zhaomin's vanguard troops rendezvous, but by this time Cao Kun's main force had escaped from the encirclement of the Nationalist Army and successfully headed towards Nanjing, and then the troops of these three divisions continued to pursue westward.

On the night of the 23rd, Jin Yunpeng's Fifth Division on the Lishui Front also began to retreat as planned, preparing to retreat north to Nanjing to join Cao Kun's troops.

This series of war developments almost made many generals in the Nationalist Army look forward to it, and if they did not encircle and annihilate Cao Kun and Zhang Xun's troops, at least they would suffer heavy losses, and their plan failed.

The Beiyang army completed their strategic retreat in three days, and although they paid the price of thousands of broken troops, they successfully concentrated the main force to the southern city of Nanjing, so as to avoid falling into the realm of being broken by each other. Judging from the retreat of the Beiyang Army, it is at least much stronger than the Nationalist Army, and being able to complete such a large-scale retreat under the pursuit of the Nationalist Army is inseparable from the quality of the Beiyang Army and the command level of Cao Kun and other high-level generals of the Beiyang Army.

"The Beiyang Army is now three divisions concentrated in the south of Nanjing, of which the Eighth Division of the Beiyang Army is only missing two infantry regiments and some auxiliary troops, with a total strength of about 25,000 people!" Yuan Fang reported the war briefing to Chen Jingyun as usual, but Chen Jingyun has paid less attention to the details of the battle in the past few days, anyway, after the victory in Nanjing, the overall situation can not be changed, and the remaining details are naturally handled by many generals below, and he doesn't need to worry about it anymore, even if he personally cares, he can't annihilate the main force of the Beiyang Army.

Chen Jingyun nodded and said: "Well, the next war staff will look at making another plan to capture Nanjing as soon as possible, and in addition, the commendation of the relevant troops should also be carried out as soon as possible!" ”

Yuan Fang nodded, then said after a moment of silence: "Just now there was news from the Feng Mansion that Feng Qin has gone!" ”

When Chen Jingyun heard the news, he was stunned when he was about to drink tea, and then put down the teacup: "Alas, he should be relieved to go!" ”

After Feng Qin became seriously ill, the doctor said that there were not many days left, and everyone was mentally prepared, but now that he learned that Feng Qin really went, Chen Jingyun still felt a little uncomfortable.

After Yuan Fang went out, he called Yu Shifeng in: "The funeral affairs over there in the Feng Mansion should be arranged properly, and all the expenses used will be at public expense, and the family members of the Feng Mansion must also be properly arranged, so that people can't say that the tea will be cold as soon as we leave." Speaking of this, he remembered the third son that Feng Qin confessed before leaving, so Chen Jingyun continued: "In addition, the third son of Feng Qin who studied at the Fuzhou Military Academy, you will take care of one or two on his behalf, and when he graduates, bring him to see me!" ”

Yu Shifeng nodded and said, "My subordinates understand!" ”

After the order, Chen Jingyun was in a bad mood, and then even if he was in a bad mood, he couldn't stop this official business, and soon he put on his coat, and then started his day's work according to this and today's itinerary, and in the morning, he first went to Shanghai Guangren Hospital, preparing for some meritorious and wounded officers to be awarded.

In the war in southern Jiangsu, the Nationalist Army can be said to have suffered heavy casualties, with many dead and even more wounded, and most of the wounded soldiers will be transferred to the rear for further treatment after passing the emergency treatment at the front line, especially in the Shanghai area. In order to ensure that the wounded officers could receive better conditions for treatment and rehabilitation, the Nationalist Army made the Guangren Hospital a special hospital for officers through consultations.

Today, Chen Jingyun came here not only to visit many wounded officers, but also to give these wounded officers promotions and awards.

Walking in the corridor of the hospital, looking at the many officers wrapped in white cloth or lame and broken hands, Chen Jingyun felt very complicated, in the national army, half of the people who would be injured or killed were grassroots officers, especially platoon commanders, company commanders and other lieutenants. On the contrary, officers above the battalion commander level are relatively rarely injured or killed in battle, and so far, the highest-ranking officer killed in the National Army is a lieutenant colonel and deputy regimental commander, and although there are also wounded above the regiment commander, they are all minor injuries and do not hinder the cause.

Among the many injured grassroots officers, the vast majority are young people around 20 years old, and whether they have graduated from a crash course or a regular class, they are still very young, and there are even 16 or 7-year-old young officers among them.

In the face of the excitement and admiration of these people, Chen Jingyun had a very complicated feeling in his heart, he established the national army, shouted many inspiring slogans, and called on countless hot-blooded young people to fight for those illusory ideals, shed blood for them, and sacrifice, is it all worth it?

"Are you Du Yanpeng?" With all kinds of thoughts in his heart, Chen Jingyun walked in front of a young man lying on a hospital bed.

Du Yanpeng watched Chen Jingyun, who had only met him once before at the graduation ceremony, walk up to him and ask his name, and at that moment, he was stunned.

In order to call on young people to join the Kuomintang and the National Army, and in order to establish Chen Jingyun's authority in the National Army, the propaganda and education of the National Army carried out quite a myth about Chen Jingyun, which was fine within the army, but in the propaganda of the Kuomintang Socialist Party, Chen Jingyun was almost directly mythologized, and Chen Jingyun was portrayed as the hope of China's Ming Boil's freedom, and Chen Jingyun was portrayed as the only candidate for China's rejuvenation.

The Kuomintang succeeded in erecting a young man's idol, and with the help of the domestic media, Chen Jingyun almost made Chen Jingyun the most admired idol of modern young people.

When the spiritual idol that he worshipped, fought so far, and studied abroad appeared in front of him, Du Yanpeng seemed to be a little unable to believe his eyes, and only after being stunned did he react, and wanted to struggle to get up and salute, but Chen Jingyun leaned down with a smile on his face at this time and pressed him: "Don't get up, I'm here to see you today, even if it's a salute, I should salute for you bloody soldiers!" ”

"Commander, I'm ......" Du Yanpeng was a little incoherent.

At this time, Chen Jingyun took out a double sword medal from the adjutant next to him: "Captain Du, in view of the great results your heroic battle has brought to our army, I hereby award you the Double Sword Medal!" ”

This was not over, Chen Jingyun then took out a pair of epaulettes from the plate held by the adjutant, and a gold star was carried on a white bar on the epaulette, which was the rank of major.

"Now, Captain Du, you are Major Du! I look forward to your early recovery, the National Army needs a brave soldier like you to return to combat duty as soon as possible! With a smile on his face, Chen Jingyun personally put epaulettes on Du Yanpeng, and then turned around and left after saluting the military salute, and a large group of people around him immediately left, and they had to give the next officer the same promotion ceremony and award.

Leaving Du Yanpeng for a long time without reacting, after half a day, the tears on his face kept lingering, and he muttered to himself to the snow-white ceiling: "Brother Han, Brother Zhang, you have all been martyred, but I have been promoted and awarded here, what kind of face does Du Yanpeng have to face you, how to face the more than 100 brothers who sacrificed their lives for the country in Sanlian!" ”