readx; In a certain compound in Chaohu City, Wang Chengbin of the Duli Brigade of the Third Division of the Beiyang Army listened to the report of the subordinate cavalry battalion, but the more he listened, the darker his face became, and he said after a long time: "Are you sure it's right?" ”

The battalion commander of the cavalry battalion said with certainty: "Absolutely yes, after my subordinates led the team to break through a group of cavalry of the enemy, they galloped for half a mile to reach the vicinity of Yongnan, although they didn't dare to get too close, but they could clearly see a large number of their men and horses from a distance, and they also found the number of the fifth division of the national army." There are so many cannons and baggage on the Yongnan side www.biquge.info, which is definitely not something that a division can have, so I judge that the national army that crossed the river this time is at least two divisions or more, and there may even be more! ”

After a short handover with the cavalry battalion of the 9th Division of the Nationalist Army, the cavalry battalion of the Duli Brigade killed and wounded half of the cavalry of the Nationalist Army at the cost of less than 10 casualties, achieving a great result of 1:5. After the cavalry battalion of the Ninth Division of the Nationalist Army fled, the cavalry of the Beiyang Army did not continue to pursue for too long, and after chasing for a while, they turned away, and their main purpose was not to fight with the enemy cavalry, but to reconnoiter the situation of the Nationalist Army. Without any obstruction, and the luck of this group of Beiyang Army cavalry was really good, they actually bypassed the main force of a large number of infantry of the Ninth Division of the Nationalist Army, and penetrated deep into the Yongnan area, which had been occupied by the Nationalist Army, and found a large number of main forces of the Nationalist Army who had just crossed the river, especially the artillery of various divisions and a large number of baggage troops.

Wang Chengbin looked puzzled: "Isn't the Fifth Division of the National Army in Lishui?" How did it come to Wuhu here? ”

At this time, Gu Zhuotang, the commander of the Third Division of the Anhui Provincial Army, who had not spoken much, also spoke: "The Nationalist Army was transferred so much some time ago, obviously the Fifth Division was also transferred in advance!" ”

Wang Chengbin also nodded and said, "It should be like this!" It's just that now that the National Army has two divisions, I'm afraid we're going to fight a tough battle here in Chaohu! ”

As soon as these words came out, Gu Zhuotang on the side was also dull, Wang Chengbin had no confidence, and he, the commander of the third division of the Anhui Provincial Army, had even less confidence, you must know that the main force in this battle was not his third division of the Anhui Provincial Army, but Wang Chengbin's duli brigade, and the combat effectiveness of his third division of the Anhui Provincial Army could not be compared with the troops of the third division of the Zhongyāng lineage, this is not to devalue yourself, but how it is. So on the surface, he is a division commander, and Wang Chengbin is just a brigade commander, but in fact, the war in Chaohu is dominated by Wang Chengbin, and he Gu Zhuotang is just a horn of cooperation.

After Yuan Shikai sent Cao Kun to lead the Third Division into Anhui, he incorporated the local troops in Anhui Province and trained three Anhui Provincial Army Divisions. The three Anhui Provincial Army Divisions are also different, for example, the first division is Ni Sichong's Ni Army, originally Ni Sichong's troops came from a somewhat complicated source, last year they were quietly stationed in the northern Anhui fringe area, and was appointed by Yuan Shikai as the town guard of northern Anhui, in the middle of this year, Yuan Shikai sent the army into Anhui in an all-round way, and his Ni Sichong's Ni Army also followed the 17th Brigade of the Ninth Division of Henan Province from the north to the hinterland of Anhui. After the capture of Anhui, the local army in Anhui Province trained three divisions, and his Ni Sichong's Ni Army took this opportunity to obtain the official number and became the first division of the Anhui Provincial Army, which was stationed in Hefei at this time.

The second and third divisions of the Anhui Provincial Army were reorganized from the original Anhui Provincial Army, and most of them were subordinates of Hu Wantai and Gu Zhuotang, so Yuan Shikai simply appointed these two as the commanders of the second and third divisions of the Anhui Provincial Army, stationed in Huaining and Chaohu respectively, to guard against the national army in the direction of Anqing and Wuhu.

Gu Zhuotang originally thought that after taking refuge in Beiyang, he would live a good life, and even one day he would fly up to the branches and become a pivotal person, and after leading his troops to Chaohu, he was indeed a good man, and when he was preparing to expand the troops and take Chaohu Lake as his own territory to manage it well, the National Army had already completely fallen out with the Beiyang Army. Subsequently, Cao Kun sent the Duli Brigade Wang Chengbin's troops south to station in Chaohu and Yongnan, and ordered the war in the direction of Chaohu Lake to be dominated by Wang Chengbin, supplemented by Gu Zhuotang.

"Brother Wang, do you think if you send a telegram to the escort envoys and ask them to send another part to reinforce us, otherwise it will be difficult for you and me to hold on to our troops!" Gu Zhuotang was worried, he didn't want to wipe out his troops here in Chaohu, let alone be defeated and die here.

Wang Chengbin was also silent and said after the meeting: "If the National Army really comes to two divisions, although our two divisions alone can hold on for ten days and half a month, I am afraid it will not last." However, no matter what, this Chaohu Lake must be guarded, and my family commander has given me a death order, and Chaohu Lake cannot be lost. So I'm ready to ask the division commander for help! ”

Unlike Gu Zhuotang, he Wang Chengbin fought with the Nationalist Army, and during the war in southern Jiangsu last year, he served as the commander of the 11th Regiment in the 6th Brigade of the 3rd Division and was awarded the rank of colonel. In the first battle of southern Jiangsu, the third division fought extremely hard, but it also really played the strong combat effectiveness of the third division, not only Tang Tianxi, a general who rose in the war in southern Jiangsu, but also the following regiment commanders were also promoted a lot because of merit, for example, Wu Peifu, the commander of the artillery regiment, took over the position of Tang Tianxi's fifth brigade commander and was awarded the rank of major general. Wang Chengbin, the commander of the 11th Regiment, was also promoted to serve as brigade commander when Cao Kun expanded the Duli Brigade and was awarded the rank of major general. In the Southern Jiangsu War, whether it was the National Army or the Beiyang Army, there were many outstanding generals, these people were valued by their superiors after they appeared, and then rose rapidly under the envy of those hard-working officers.

Wang Chengbin has fought hard with the National Army in southern Jiangsu, and he is naturally clear about the combat effectiveness of the National Army, although Gu Zhuotang also knows that the National Army can fight, but it is just hearsay, far less profound than Wang Chengbin's personal feelings.

Most of the senior generals of the Beiyang Army in southern Jiangsu and southern Anhui already have a common understanding that they cannot speak, that is, the combat effectiveness of the Beiyang Army and the National Army is already within a radius of eight taels, and no one needs to be much weaker, and if they want to win, they must treat the National Army as a real opponent, rather than treating those ordinary local armies.

If there is only one division of the Kuomintang army coming this time, Wang Chengbin will rely on his Duli Brigade as the core, supplemented by the cooperation of the Third Division of the Anhui Provincial Army, plus there is terrain and fortifications built in advance, it should not be a big problem to block it. However, if there are two divisions and the enemy's strength is doubled, it will be difficult to resist with one Duli Brigade and one Third Division of the Anhui Provincial Army. There may even be some hilarious situations, such as the artillery regiment of two enemy divisions shelling together, and the fierce act of shelling dozens of artillery pieces together may scare away the 3rd Division of the Anhui Provincial Army, which has not experienced fierce fighting. This is not the first time that this situation has happened, when the Third Division attacked Anhui, it had already tried to carry out only large-scale artillery bombardment, and those Anhui Provincial Army troops broke and fled.

Wang Chengbin did not hesitate or delay too much, and now sent a telegram to Cao Kun, claiming that he had found traces of the Fifth Division of the Nationalist Army, and that Chaohu was about to face the attack of two enemy divisions, hoping to give reinforcements.

After receiving the telegram, Cao Kun pondered for a long time: "There are two divisions in Chaohu and two divisions in Anqing. The Nationalist Army has invested a lot of money this time, and there are four divisions to fight Anhui! ”

Wu Peifu on the side said: "The national army is prepared this time, and four divisions are dispatched at a time, even if the national army has a large number of troops, I am afraid that the reserve forces will be exhausted!" Division commander, now it has been determined, this time the national army is coming to Hefei, you see that troops will be sent from Anqing and Wuhu, and then these two sides will come all the way along Hefei to form a siege on our part in Hefei City. Without further ado, now that the direction of their main attack has been determined, I'm afraid it will be too late if we don't move! ”

Cao Kun didn't know that the goal of the Nationalist Army was to come to his Hefei, but if he wanted to take the initiative, how could he take the initiative, he had sent many telegrams to Feng Guozhang in a row, asking him to send reinforcements to support him, but he still strictly ordered the troops in Chuzhou and Bengbu to stay still, did he want to see death and not save him?

Cao Kun also had to wonder if Feng Guozhang had other ideas at this time, to be honest, now the Nationalist Army has appeared with the number of four divisions, he Cao Kun plus the help of three Anhui Provincial Army Divisions, if you want to defend, it is not impossible to hold, but if the Nationalist Army knows that Feng Guozhang does not send reinforcements, if you send another part to continue to enter Anhui, then he Cao Kun will not be able to stand Hefei even if he means all the time.

Cao Kun really wronged Feng Guozhang, Feng Guozhang was not unwilling to save Cao Kun when he saw death, but felt that there was no need to save him. Cao Kun is located in Anhui, and his consideration is naturally about the safety of Anhui and the safety of his own Third Division. However, Feng Guozhang sat on the Jinpu line and commanded many Beiyang Army Jingrui troops of the Second Army, what he wanted was the safety of the entire Jinpu line, and he was not thinking about Anhui. In Feng Guozhang's view, even if Hefei is lost, it will not affect the overall situation, as long as Jiangbei, Chuzhou, Bengbu and other important military towns are not lost, then the Beiyang Army will be as stable as Mount Tai on the Jinpu line, and it will even be able to send troops to surround the national army deep into Anhui.

Feng Guozhang is thinking about the battle on the Jinpu line, while Yuan Shikai is thinking about the situation in China as a whole, for Yuan Shikai, the war on the Jinpu line is just a part of many wars, it can only be said to be a more important link, in addition to the Jinpu line, he also has to pay attention to other directions, such as Hunan, Sichuan and Hubei.

When the Nationalist Army crossed the river in Anqing and Wuhu in a big way, Yuan Shikai had already ordered Duan Zhigui to send troops eastward to try to capture Jiujiang, and then he could capture Nanchang, or he could continue to attack eastward to occupy Anqing and other places.

When those bigwigs were thinking about the so-called overall situation, on the Chaohu front, the low-level officers and soldiers on both sides were already close to each other, bullets were speeding through the night sky, and the bullets were swept across the night sky like meteors, accompanied by gunshots and explosions, and blood was sprinkled all over the entire front.