readx; On November 15, the main force of the First Army of the Nationalist Army gathered outside the Bengbu line, including the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 9th Divisions. As a result of the initial adjustment during this period www.biquge.info a large number of logistical personnel were expanded, and the transport teams under the jurisdiction of the logistics department were directly incorporated into the baggage units of each division, and the number of personnel in each division was raised from more than 9,000 to more than 11,000 in a short period of time. On the contrary, the increase in logistics personnel has rapidly improved the troops' large-scale mobility capabilities, instead of relying on the logistics department's logistics supply at all times.

In this way, the expansion of the number of personnel in each division has directly increased the total strength of the national army by about one-sixth out of thin air, but in fact, there are still so many original combatants, and the extra logistics personnel themselves are also the transport team of the logistics department, so the essence has not changed much. However, in terms of establishment, the strength of each division has risen to more than 11,000 people, and the personnel of the Ninth Division, a special main force that has been expanded by firepower, has reached more than 13,000. As a result, the total strength of the First Army approached 50,000.

With the current strength of the First Army, it has surpassed the Beiyang Army on the front line of Bengbu, and now the Beiyang Army in Bengbu has more than 20,000 remnants of Feng Guozhang's Second Army and more than 10,000 of Xu Shuzheng's 11th Division, adding up to only more than 30,000 points, and due to the low morale caused by successive defeats, and due to the loss of a large number of heavy weapons in the Jiangbei operation, the firepower level of the Bengbu defenders has been far inferior to the normal level of the Beiyang Army. Under such circumstances, it would be very difficult to hold off the attack of the First Army.

Not to mention that in addition to the first army, the national army also has a second army on the Jinpu line. The divisions under the Second Army suffered a lot of losses in the previous operations, the Eighth Division and the Fifth Mixed Brigade had to rest and recuperate, and lost the ability to attack on a large scale in a short period of time, and the Ninth Division, which was the main force of the Second Army, was also transferred to the First Army to participate in front-line operations, so although the Second Army, which served as a reserve after the First Army, had the Fifth Division, the Eighth Division and the Fifth Mixed Brigade, the Fifth Mixed Brigade remained in Jiangbei, while the Eighth Division stayed in Chuzhou to recuperate. Only one Fifth Division arrived north and went to Mingguang as a reserve for the First Army.

Although the two subordinate units of the Second Army were resting, they were able to come out and continue to fight at critical moments, so the Nationalist Army on the Jinpu Line continued to maintain its superiority in strength.

If such an advantage in strength and firepower cannot be taken to Bengbu, then Chen Jingyun will have to consider whether to withdraw Li Jimin.

Li Jimin is now in high spirits, Li Jimin's military rank and position in the previous period was very embarrassing, he had the rank of lieutenant general, but he had been the commander of the first division, and for a long time he was the only lieutenant general and division commander in the national army. The 17th Mixed Brigade fought on the Jiangbei and Chuzhou Western Fronts, and was able to defeat most of Tang Tianxi's 10th Division, Yu Youfu's 2nd Mixed Brigade, and Jin Yunpeng's 5th Division.

In the follow-up operations, he made great contributions, and cooperated with the 9th Division in Wuyi Town to encircle and annihilate the remnants of Pan Juying's 20th Division, forcing Pan Juying to surrender, and also killed and wounded the 2nd Mixed Brigade and the 5th Division and part of the 10th Division of the Beiyang Army in previous operations. Although Li Jimin's limelight in the past few months of war was not as loud as Shen Gang, nor was he as blockbuster as Xu Lishan, nor did he want to be as powerful as Zuo Yugang, his steady and steady style also made great contributions to the victory of the National Army in the Jiangbei Campaign.

I think that when Tang Tianxi's 10th Division marched west from Chuzhou, a large number of generals of the National Army were worried, for fear of repeating the defeat of Zhenjiang. You must know that in the battle of Zhenjiang last year, the First Division suffered a big heel in the hands of Tang Tianxi, which directly led to the dismissal of Chen Weihua, the commander of the First Division at that time. Although the 1st Division at that time was at a disadvantage in the face of the fully equipped Tang Tianxi 10th Division, Li Jimin successfully blocked Tang Tianxi's westward advance and successfully covered the military march of the Second Army in Chaohu. It was precisely because of this military exploit that Chen Jingyun would be promoted to the commander of the First Army when Shen Gang was subsequently transferred to the General Staff Department to serve as the chief of the General Staff.

After serving as the commander of the First Army, Li Jimin did not disappoint Chen Jingyun, and firmly restrained Tang Tianxi's 10th Division and the 2nd Mixed Brigade and Jiangbei's 5th Division, ensuring that the Second Army had no worries when attacking Hefei. After taking Hefei, he actively cooperated with other troops to launch a fierce attack, and finally laid the victory of the Jiangbei Battle together with other troops.

Although Li Jimin did not show a lot of limelight in the battle for several months, he had some credit, so in the follow-up Jinpu Line operation, Chen Jingyun used the First Army as the main force and transferred the Ninth Division to the First Army. This arrangement naturally allowed Li Jimin to obtain the command of the Bengbu Campaign. If Chen Jingyun doesn't trust him, then Chen Jingyun will let Yuan Fang's Second Army Command command this campaign, you must know that the army headquarters of the Nationalist Army is a simple campaign headquarters, and if you want to command the battle, you can directly integrate it into various units, and if Yuan Fang commands it, you can completely transfer several main divisions of the First Army to the Second Army.

However, Chen Jingyun did not do so, which shows that he still trusts Li Jimin's command ability.

Li Jimin, who can get to today's status, is naturally very clear about the twists and turns here, understands the important responsibility he bears at this time, and understands that this time is his most beautiful time so far. As long as the battle of Bengbu is good, the next attack on Xuzhou and even the continuation of the northward campaign may also be handed over to his command, and at that time, he Li Jimin will be able to be compared with Shen Gang in the national army.

With such a thought, after arriving in Bengbu on November 15, Li Jimin commanded the troops to quickly launch an attack!

He wanted to go to Xuzhou and even Shandong before the cold winter came, so as to thoroughly realize the strategic concept of the General Staff for occupying Jiangsu and Anhui before the cold winter this year.

Although the weather in November is still warm and cool in the southern provinces, the temperature in the northern region has gradually decreased, and since the beginning of winter, the temperature in Bengbu and Xuzhou has become very low at night, and the logistics department of the Nationalist Army has begun to give priority to the distribution of winter clothes to the troops fighting close to the north.

Now the weather is just cool, but as time continues to pass, and as the Nationalist Army continues to move north, then the cold winter and heavy snow weather will cause considerable trouble to the actions of the Nationalist Army, and then the Beiyang Army will also be able to use the cold weather to add a certain amount of bargaining chips to the defense.

Therefore, the staff department already has a preparatory plan, that is, it is hoped that the battle line will be pushed north as much as possible before the heavy snowfall comes, and it is best to occupy Xuzhou, and when the weather really reaches the time when the snow is flying, then the national army is to suspend the offensive, stop and rest, replenish personnel and materials, prepare for the spring offensive of the next year, and then fight to Yanjing in one go.

It has been more than five months since the National Army announced the Northern Expedition in July, and it has been three and a half months since the beginning of the river crossing operation in August, such a long period of continuous fighting has consumed a lot of war materials for the National Army, although the National Army has been preparing for this war for a full year, and has stored a large number of supplies and ammunition in southern Jiangsu, but the front-line troops have continued to fight with high intensity until now, and the ammunition reserves of the National Army have dropped to a relatively low level, according to the forecast of the Logistics Department, At present, the ammunition reserves of the logistics department can still support the offensive of various units for about a month, and if the time continues to be extended, then there will be a shortage of ammunition supply for various troops, and then it can only be used by the front-line troops as much as the Fuzhou Arsenal produces, instead of directly using the ammunition reserves as it is now.

The advent of winter has brought great trouble to the actions of the National Army, but it is not necessarily bad for others, for Feng Guozhang and others, it is natural to hope that the heavy snow weather in winter will come as soon as possible, as long as it is supported to alleviate this winter, the Beiyang Army will be able to regroup its forces, and it is not impossible to launch a counteroffensive to recapture Jiangbei in the coming year.

And the people in the southern provinces have not stopped their passion because of the coming of winter, and even many businesses have made a fortune because of the coming of winter, such as the manufacturers who supply military uniforms, military quilts, military shoes and other materials to the national army. At present, the total strength of the Nationalist Army is increasing on a large scale day by day, and so far the strength of the Nationalist Army has approached 200,000 troops, and with the addition of other non-combat forces, as well as the navy and air force, there is no problem in the total strength of more than 250,000. And this number will continue to expand until next year, when it is possible for the National Army to have a total number of more than 300,000. 、

And such a large-scale army needs all kinds of military supplies is not generally more, military uniforms, military quilts, military shoes these three items but let the national army in the jurisdiction of the merchants make enough money, not only Huaxia Bank directly under the Fuding Textile Company received a large number of orders, but also many companies have also obtained a large number of orders, after all, the production capacity of Fuding Textile Company is limited, to supply hundreds of thousands of sets of military uniforms in a short period of time is also very difficult, so let Fuhang Textile Company and other textile enterprises also obtain a large number of orders, Even due to the urgent demand for military uniforms for winter clothing, these textile enterprises will outsource their production to those small family workshops, not only military uniforms, but also some other low-tech military materials are mostly this model, so that many enterprises in the jurisdiction of the National Army have obtained a large number of orders for military materials at the same time, but also let the national army in the jurisdiction, especially in Shanghai, Hangzhou around small private enterprises have been greatly developed, these family workshops may only have so a dozen or even only a few people, However, their large number can not only effectively supplement the lack of capacity of large factories, but also prosper the local economy.

And this is a clear example of the so-called use of war to drive economic development.

This point also includes the production of ordnance, although the production of ordnance by the Nationalist Army is in the Fuzhou Arsenal, but in order to produce products, the Fuzhou Arsenal must employ a large number of workers and create more jobs, and a large part of the purchase of a large number of military materials obtained by the Fuzhou Arsenal from the Nationalist Army is the salary cost of workers, and after the income of these workers increases, they will spend it, such as eating, dressing, building houses, and buying matches, soap and other daily necessities. The money will flow into other industries and drive the development of the entire social industry chain.

Therefore, whether it is military production or the production of other military materials, it can drive the development of the local economy to a certain extent. And this is also the reason why Chen Jingyun insists on using military funds to purchase ordnance and even other military materials by himself, because after spending this money on his own territory, in addition to getting the ordnance and ammunition he needs, he can also create many jobs, improve the people's income level, and promote the development of other industries. In the process of people's consumption, they can increase taxes on the political axe, and these taxes become military spending, so that a cycle is formed.

However, if a large amount of military spending is used for external purchases, then it will not be possible to obtain these benefits, so it is better to produce what can be produced by itself.

Of course, this does not mean that fighting war every day can lead to economic development, but only that when war must be waged, it is much better to absorb a large amount of military expenditure internally than to directly purchase ordnance, even if the latter ordnance is cheaper and of better quality.

Spurred on by the war, the southern provinces, especially the Yangtze River Delta in Zhejiang and southern Jiangsu, experienced a distorted pace of economic development, and this illusion of prosperity made the business class more supportive of Chen Jingyun.