In view of the unsmooth situation in the direction of Huangzhuang, and the fact that the second regiment on the side of Dengjiaao was progressing smoothly, Lin Chengkun transferred a battalion of two battalions of reserve troops to reinforce the first regiment of the guard division in the afternoon, trying to continue to strengthen the strength of the first regiment for the rapid capture of Huangzhuang, and more importantly, to try to put down the living force of the Beiyang Army in Huangzhuang, rather than simply conquering Huangzhuang.

When Lin Chengkun dispatched troops according to the development of the war situation, Feng Guozhang sat with a gloomy face, and below him were several senior generals of the Beiyang Army. Although the Beiyang Army on the north bank of Nanjing did not have many troops, less than 6,000 people, it had a very large number of high-ranking generals, most of whom were headquarters personnel of the Second Beiyang Army.

"Huangzhuang's defense line is still too thin, Ziyang, wait for you to take the third task force to reinforce the direction of Huangzhuang, be sure to hold Huangzhuang!" After Feng Guozhang said this, the generals below had different faces.

One of them hesitated for a long time and then said: "Commander, the situation on the Dengjiaao side is also urgent now, and after the third task force is transferred to Huangzhuang, I am afraid that the Dengjiaao side will be ......."

Feng Guozhang said directly: "It's okay, since Deng Jiaao can't hold it, he will abandon it, and let the 31st Regiment retreat to Taishan Town by night tonight!" ”

Since the Nationalist Army crossed the river to attack Nanjing, Feng Guozhang directly took over the command of the defense of Nanjing as the commander of the army, and personally commanded the more than 5,000 people to defend, at the beginning he was preparing to use the center outside the town of Taishan to try to establish a solid defensive system, and there was no big problem in the previous two days and several encounters with the Nationalist Army, but he did not expect that the previous Nationalist Army did not exert all its strength, just a tentative attack, and after the National Army Guard Division launched a general attack on the whole line this morning, The seemingly solid defense line immediately became crumbling, and the front-line Xiazhuang was conquered by the national army without even six hours of support, but fortunately, the front-line commander did not defend it, but immediately retreated to Xiazhuang after seeing that the situation was not good, and then strengthened the Xiazhuang defense line with the Xiazhuang defenders.

Then Deng Jiaao was also in an emergency, but at this time Feng Guozhang had no more troops to deploy, the main force in his hands was the thirtieth regiment of the eighth division and half of the thirty-first regiment, which added up to more than 3,000 people was the main force of his Feng Guozhang to defend Nanjing, as for the other subsidiary troops engineering battalion and baggage battalion and guard troops and the like were temporarily organized into three task forces, each detachment put **100 people, put one on the side of Jiejiazhuang, and then arranged a detachment in Taishan Town and the rear railway station, only one reserve of the task force remained.

Now that the direction of Xiazhuang is in an emergency, in view of the important surname in the direction of Xiazhuang, he had to transfer this task force to the direction of Xiazhuang to reinforce the 30th Regiment.

The 30th Regiment in Feng Guozhang's hands was a completely large part of the formed troops before, Feng Guozhang left behind when Zhang Xun set off for Zhenjiang, with a total strength of more than 2,000 people, and more than 2,000 people did not even resist for six hours when they defended Huangzhuang before, which made Feng Guozhang once again look at the combat effectiveness of the National Army Guard Division. That's why the 3rd Task Force was also sent to Huangzhuang to reinforce the 30th Regiment. As for Dengjiaao's side, the position is not as important as Huangzhuang, and the 31st Regiment was the unit that defended the north bank of the Yangtze River before, and there were less than 1,000 people left after being beaten all the way to Nanjing by the Nationalist Guard Division.

As for the second task force of Xie Jiazhuang, Feng Guozhang learned from the intelligence on the front line that there is no big problem now, and there is no need for reinforcements for the time being.

In fact, Feng Guozhang did not have much confidence in defending Huangzhuang, and he had already decided on the main force, if the defense in the direction of Huangzhuang could not be achieved, he would simply withdraw the main force, and then concentrate his forces to defend Taishan Town and wait for the southward reinforcements of the Seventh Division, he did not believe that he could not hold it for three or five days with more than 5,000 troops in his hands.

The reason why he only said three to five days was because he had already received a telegram from Yuan Shikai saying that he had ordered Wang Ruxian's Seventh Division to go south, and with urgent reinforcements through the Jinpu Line Railway, it would be possible to reach the outlying areas of Nanjing in three days at most to reinforce Feng Guozhang.

However, what Feng Guozhang didn't know was that Yuan Shikai spent a lot of effort in order to mobilize the Seventh Division to the south, and when Yuan Shikai learned that the Nationalist Army had crossed the river to attack Nanjing a few days ago, he was already preparing to transfer the Seventh Division south for reinforcements. But for a while, it was not possible to draw enough military funds to the Seventh Division, resulting in the Seventh Division not being able to make the trip.

And now the Beiyang political axe has spent millions in the past month in order to maintain the three divisions in the direction of Nanjing, and now the Beiyang political axe, which has not yet received a large loan for the aftermath, maintains such a large stall, and it is already very difficult to raise hundreds of thousands of troops, and the millions spent in order to maintain the front-line troops have been embezzled by Yuan Shikai from all directions, and there is no more silver at all.

After receiving Feng Guozhang's telegram for help today, he Yuan didn't care about anything else, and directly sent a telegram to Wang Ruxian. After receiving the telegram, Wang Ruxian scolded in front of his subordinates: "I know that I am urged to send troops, but the military expenses are not paid, how can I face the tens of thousands of brothers of the Seventh Division!" ”

I was unhappy in my heart, but in the face of Yuan Shikai's strongly worded telegram, Wang Ruxian also had to take out a part of the small treasury of the Seventh Division as a promotion fee.

Wang Ruxian was dissatisfied, he Yuan Shikai was even more dissatisfied, after Xinhai, he Yuan Shikai had encountered something that did not move the command, but since the end of the North-South peace talks, after the formation of the Beiyang Cabinet, many of the generals below have become more and more arrogant, although they still respectfully obey him on the surface, but when they are used in peace, there is a feeling that it is not smooth, which makes Yuan Shikai feel more and more that the generals who started with him are not easy to bring.

But at this moment, things like releasing military power with a glass of wine can't be done and can't be done, and the overall situation of the south still has to rely on those generals. However, despite this, he still accelerated the pace of organizing the 9th and 10th Divisions, preparing to establish a new military system outside the original Beiyang Army system.

Yuan Shikai is very confident that he was able to train a Beiyang Army in a small station back then, so today he can train a new army.

In any case, the Seventh Division of the Beiyang Army finally began to move south from Shandong, and no one knows whether it can arrive in Nanjing in about three days to reinforce Feng Guozhang's headquarters in about three days as Yuan Shikai and Feng Guozhang imagined.

When the 7th Division was grinding and grinding, the battle in the north of Nanjing was still continuing, and the Guard Division launched an attack according to the predetermined plan, and the 1st Regiment of the Guard Division successfully captured Xiazhuang and then began to attack Huangzhuang immediately behind the Beiyang Army. In the evening, there was a large-scale battle with the Beiyang defenders, but the progress was not great, in addition to the factor that the Beiyang Army gathered up to 2,000 troops around Huangzhuang, and more importantly, the first regiment of the guard division had to stop the pace of advance after a day of fierce fighting, not only the physical consumption of the soldiers was serious, but the ammunition of the front-line troops was also in short supply, and due to the rapid advance and the fact that it had been in a state of fierce battle, the supply delivery in the rear was not very timely, resulting in a large-scale attack launched in the evening and had to stop the pace of advance. Prepare for a short rest and replenishment of ammunition.

During this time, the artillery regiment in the rear also began to move the artillery positions forward in a hurry in order to support the front-line combat troops in a timely manner.

In the evening, the third task force of the Beiyang Army also arrived in Huangzhuang, not only came, but Feng Guozhang also came to inspect the defense line in person, met with the grassroots officers below, and did not hurry back to Taishan Town until the second half of the night.

While the battle in Nanjing came to an end due to night, the fighting in other directions in southern Jiangsu did not stop.

Before the Guard Division launched a general attack in Nanjing, the Seventh Division of the Nationalist Army also successfully completed the detour and successfully captured Jurong after defeating a small number of blocking Beiyang Army.

When Lin Zhaomin's Seventh Division captured Jurong, Cao Kun, who was in Zhenjiang, immediately sensed the danger, because if the Seventh Division continued to move north, as long as it continued to advance more than ten kilometers, it would reach the Yangtze River, which would cut off the retreat of the Third Division and the Eighth Division in the direction of Zhenjiang, and this situation was something Cao Kun did not want to see. Therefore, it was prepared to transfer a brigade of troops back to the defense, preparing to block the Seventh Division of the Nationalist Army from continuing northward.

However, Shen Gang on the opposite side obviously saw that Cao Kun wanted to transfer troops, and immediately launched a relevant offensive to contain Cao Kun and Zhang Xun's troops, and in the end, although the successful troops were withdrawn, in order to cover the smooth withdrawal of these troops, the Beiyang Army had to suffer large casualties, which made Cao Kun angry and wanted to scold his mother.

"Brother Cao, it's not okay to go on like this, although there is still some ammunition now, but I know how long it will take to fight in Nanjing, and these two of us have suffered heavy casualties, if we continue to fight, let's not talk about whether Nanjing can hold it, even if we hold it, I am afraid that you and my troops will be exhausted!" Zhang Xun was worried.

Cao Kun was more worried than him, in fact, when the Nationalist army crossed the river to attack Nanjing, he had a very bad premonition, but Feng Guozhang had ordered him to speed up the attack, intending to seize Zhenjiang first. At that time, although Cao Kun was not very satisfied, but also launched a few attacks, but in the face of the mature Zhenjiang defense system at night, these attacks had little effect, and then Cao Kun simply ignored Feng Guozhang's order for him to take Zhenjiang in three days, and dragged it slowly, and even he was thinking about whether to withdraw to Nanjing first, after all, those in Nanjing are now taking care of themselves, and the Fifth Division is also being dragged down, at this time, if the National Army copies his back road, he will be surrounded!

But Feng Guozhang didn't give an order, and he couldn't openly withdraw his troops.

Sure enough, after learning that Jurong was lost, Cao Kun immediately thought of the intentions of the Nationalist Army, they wanted to cut off their own retreat, and they might even cooperate with the troops of Zhenjiang to try to surround him.

Although it is very difficult to encircle more than 20,000 people with the strength of the Nationalist Army, if the rear road is cut off, it will also cause great trouble, and if something happens at that time, the gains will outweigh the losses.

Under such circumstances, Cao Kun sent troops to Jurong urgently to try to block the Nationalist army's continued northward advance, and on the other hand, he also sent a telegram to Feng Guozhang in Nanjing, requesting that the Zhenjiang offensive be suspended and that the 3rd and 8th Divisions be allowed to withdraw to Nanjing first.

After receiving the telegram, Feng Guozhang was furious: "He Cao Kun wants to run, how can he withdraw at such a critical juncture, if he wants to withdraw, the Nationalist army in the direction of Zhenjiang will immediately be able to cross the river and go north, and Nanjing will be even more unable to hold at that time." Once Nanjing is not defended, more than 30,000 people on the south bank will be lost! ”

"Call him back, the Seventh Division will not say that it will go south, and order him to contain the enemy army in the direction of Zhenjiang!" After Feng Guozhang replied to this telegram angrily, Cao Kun was also depressed: "The Seventh Division, the Seventh Division, how many days have you been talking about, if you can come, you will come a long time ago." If you don't come, you can hold it with the thousands of rabble established in Nanjing? ”――

It took more than four hours to finish the chapter, but it finally came out