When Chen Jingyun was dealing with these internal affairs in Shanghai, the war in southern Jiangsu did not stop there, in the north bank of Nanjing, the Seventh Division of the Beiyang Army had launched a new round of offensive under the command of Feng Guozhang, and also mobilized the heavy artillery regiments that had arrived to support, the guard division on the front line of Jiejiazhuang had been fighting uninterrupted for more than half a month, the casualties were not small, the loss of various military equipment was great, and the fighting was extremely hard, and Lin Chengkun on the front line had repeatedly asked the headquarters for support. At the same time, he asked the troops on the south bank of the Yangtze River to launch the battle of Nancheng in Nanjing as soon as possible, and after the battle of Nancheng in Nanjing, the pressure on the guard division was relieved and the guard division was reinforced.

Three days after Feng Guozhang's disappearance, he finally took the remnants of his detour to the north, and finally found Wang Ruxian's Seventh Division. Although not many of these people really care about the life or death of Feng Guozhang, no one in the Beiyang Army wants to hear the news that he was killed or captured by the National Army, which will cause a serious blow to the morale of the Beiyang Army.

After Feng Guozhang appeared, Yuan Shikai did not blame Feng Guozhang, let alone remove him, but ordered him to lead the Seventh Division to conquer Jiejiazhuang as soon as possible, reopen the supply line after recovering the northern city of Nanjing, and alleviate the crisis of more than 20,000 people such as Cao Kun who was holding the southern city of Nanjing.

Feng Guozhang, who escaped all the way from Taishan Town, was holding his breath in his heart, since he arrived at the Seventh Division, he had a straight face, and he didn't have a good face for Wang Ruxian, and even shouted and scolded Wang Ruxian in front of his subordinates, saying that he deliberately delayed the fighter, so that the situation in Nanjing was completely ruined, and Wang Ruxian was naturally unconvinced, after arriving at Jiejiazhuang, he commanded the troops to attack Jiejiazhuang, and never stopped at all, and the casualties of the troops were so large that they even made him feel very distressed. However, he was scolded by Feng Guozhang for deliberately delaying the fighter, how could this convince him.

The scolding battle between the two even reached Yuan Shikai through telegrams, and Yuan Shikai was also deeply helpless about the contradictions of the front-line troops, so in the end he could only ignore it, but strictly ordered the front-line troops to take the north city of Nanjing as soon as possible and open up the supply line. And gritted his teeth, he transferred the second brigade under the first division and related artillery to form a mixed brigade to rush south, preparing to reinforce the seventh division. At the same time, he had already transferred a brigade under the 20th Division in the northeast to prepare for the uneventuality.

After the contradiction between Feng Guozhang and Wang Ruxian became public, it also had a certain impact on the command of the Seventh Division, Feng Guozhang wanted to personally command the Seventh Division, but Wang Ruxian was willing, and so far Wang Ruxian's Seventh Division was not under the command of the First Army, and he Feng Guozhang was not his Wang Ruxian's top boss.

Although Feng Guozhang and Wang Ruxian were in a mess, the actions of the Seventh Division did not stop, and Lian Yulai had already carried out a fierce attack on Jiejiazhuang, especially after receiving reinforcements from the heavy artillery regiment, the fight was even more violent, and the guard division was facing such a huge pressure, so it was naturally trying to ask for reinforcements.

Under such circumstances, the Nationalist Army's long-planned Battle of Nancheng Nanjing also began, and the 1st, 4th, 7th, and 2nd Divisions of the Nationalist Army, which had been resting and replenishing for several days, launched a general attack on Nancheng of Nanjing.

Cao Kun, who was holding on to the southern city of Nanjing, was under such tremendous pressure, and he sent several telegrams a day urging Wang Ruxian's Seventh Division to conquer the northern city of Nanjing as soon as possible.

On the 26th, the Nationalist Army launched a general offensive, on the 27th, the Nationalist Army overcame part of the defensive line on the periphery of Nanjing's southern city, and on the 28th, the Nationalist Army conquered the important stronghold of the Beiyang Army in the southeast of Nanjing.

When the Nationalist Army was progressing smoothly on the south bank of the Yangtze River but relatively slowly, the second trip reinforced by the Beiyang Army was extremely fast, and it did not take a few days to reach the front line, and together with the Seventh Division of the Beiyang Army, launched a fierce attack on Jiejiazhuang, part of the front line of the guard division on the outer front line of Jiejiazhuang was broken through on the same day, and the first regiment lost more than half. It has even been requested from the Shanghai Command for strategic instructions for the next step.

This strategic directive sounds good, but in fact it is a request for retreat.

"The guard division has been fighting continuously for nearly 20 days since the 10th of last month, the casualties of the troops are extremely large, the consumption of ammunition is even greater, and the supply line in the rear can no longer meet the needs of the front-line guard division!" Yu Ruofei, who spoke, explained the battle situation in Jiejiazhuang to the many generals of the National Army present, including Chen Jingyun.

Yu Ruofei has returned to Shanghai for the second time, and this time he has not come to ask for support, but to ask for permission to retreat!

"The casualties of the first regiment under our division have been more than half, and the casualties of the third regiment are also extremely heavy, and only the second regiment is still intact, and some of the artillery regiments have been destroyed by the Beiyang Army!" Yu Ruofei continued to explain in a deep voice: "Now our division has less than 7,000 people, and the remaining artillery is less than seventy percent, and half of them are short of shells!" However, the frontal enemy of our division includes nearly 10,000 people of the Seventh Division of the Beiyang Army, and we have already ascertained the number of the new reinforcements of the Beiyang Army, which is the second brigade under the first division of the Beiyang Army, and has been strengthened into a mixed brigade. The combined strength of these two is nearly 15,000 men, which is one to two compared with the strength of our division. ”

Chen Jingyun listened to Yu Ruofei's words with a calm face, looked at the others, and then said, "What happened to Shen Gang's side, how long will it take to take Nancheng?" ”

Liang Xunqin, the Operations Division, said: "According to the front-line battle report, our army is currently advancing smoothly in Nancheng......

Before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Chen Jingyun: "How long will it take?" ”

Liang Xunqin's face was also stunned, and then he spoke: "The Operations Division expects that it will take another seven to ten days!" "At the beginning, Feng Guozhang's 5,000 remnants could hold the northern city of Nanjing for ten days, but now Cao Kun has as many as 25,000 men under his command, and the War Division's prediction of taking it within ten days is already very optimistic.

Hearing this ten days, Yu Ruofei over there shook his head suddenly: "Ten days, this can't work!" ”

Chen Jingyun can be regarded as understanding when he hears this, after ten days, I am afraid that the guard division will be finished. The national army is not a god general, although the combat effectiveness of the guard division is not weak, but no one is sure how long the Beiyang Army can hold out in the face of twice the enemy, not to mention that the guard division has been fighting hard before, and has suffered heavy casualties.

Chen Jingyun turned his gaze to Yuan Fang: "Doesn't the General Staff have a countermeasure to this?" ”

Yuan Fang was also sweating on his forehead at this time, the battle in southern Jiangsu was already in sight, and the guard division successfully took Taishan Town, and then as long as the Beiyang Army on the south bank of the Yangtze River was resolved, then a big victory in the war in southern Jiangsu was inevitable, but what he didn't expect was that Cao Kun's troops were so difficult to gnaw, and the four divisions of the National Army had not been taken down for six or seven days, and he didn't expect the Beiyang Army to send another brigade south for reinforcements. Even Chen Jingyun didn't know where Yuan Shikai got so much money to support the many Beiyang troops on the front line.

Yuan Fang was actually more anxious than Chen Jingyun, he didn't want to see the national army defeat as soon as he took office, and it was almost impossible for him to sit in the position of chief of staff at that time, and he had been thinking about any feasible way in the past two days.

"The main fleet of the navy has returned to Nanjing under the leadership of Rear Admiral Cheng Biguang, and artillery support will be provided on both sides of the strait, and in addition, the General Staff Department has urgently transferred a regiment under the Fourth Division to prepare to cross the river to reinforce the guard division." Yuan Fang said: "The reinforcements of this regiment are expected to take two days to arrive, and before that, the headquarters is ready to order the guard division to temporarily retreat to Taishan Town!" ”

Chen Jingyun did not speak immediately after hearing this, but paused for a long time before saying, "Since the General Staff Department has a plan, then do so." In addition, call Shen Gang and be sure to conquer Nanjing as soon as possible. ”

Since the Nationalist Army was preparing for the Battle of Nancheng in Nanjing, Chen Jingyun ordered Shen Gang to be the commander-in-chief of the battle and Lin Zhaomin to be the deputy commander to take charge of the military operations of the four divisions under him. Since the start of the war, progress has been smooth, and the steady progress of the Nationalist Army has been continuously reducing the defensive space of the Beiyang Army.

This is inseparable from Shen Gang's command style, he has never liked to use too strange tactics, he is good at frontal combat, and after advancing steadily, he concentrates a little to break through the enemy's defensive line. However, it was clear that the progress would not be satisfactory to the command of the front, especially when the Guards Division was facing a major crisis.

Shen Gang was also a little worried about the crisis of the guard division, after all, he proposed the plan to use the guard division to cross the river to attack the northern city of Nanjing, but he put forward it, and this plan has achieved great results so far, almost laying the advantage of the national army in the war in southern Jiangsu, but now the guard division is facing a crisis, and it is also a crisis of the destruction of the whole division, which has to let Shen Gang focus on it.

After Shen Gang received Chen Jingyun's telegram, he locked himself in the room for several hours, and finally called in the adjutant, took out a piece of paper and wrote a few lines of words, and then said: "Send one to the commander!" ”

When the adjutant saw the content, his face changed slightly, but he didn't dare to ask anything, but said directly: "Yes!" ”

After Chen Jingyun, who was far away in Shanghai, received Shen Gang's telegram, he pondered for a long time about the telegram on it, and he didn't even feel anything when he drank the cold tea on the table, and only after a long time did he call a secretary: "Let Yuan Fang come here!" ”

After receiving Chen Jingyun's order, Yuan Fang arrived soon and came to Chen Jingyun, seeing that Chen Jingyun was standing in front of the window at this time, the window was not closed, and the cold wind blew in from outside.

"Oh, you're here!" Chen Jingyun turned around and said: Shen Gang sent me a telegram just now, you can also take a look! ”

Yuan Fang took the telegram and looked at it, and his face immediately changed: "Commander, will the guard division be too dangerous in this case?" ”