readx; The news that the Nationalist Army had crossed the river in a big way and captured Taizhou in just a few days, inflicting heavy losses on the First Brigade of the Seventh Division of the Beiyang Army caused great repercussions within the Beiyang Army. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Although the Seventh Division of the Beiyang Army was officially organized and trained into an army after Xinhai, the predecessor of the Seventh Division was the Zhili Mixed Brigade, which can be described as a serious Beiyang lineage, although the army was formed later and the old troops of the Beiyang Army were slightly weaker, but they were also the top troops on the domestic battlefield, except for the six towns of Beiyang and a few main divisions of the National Army, other troops could not be compared with the Seventh Division of the Beiyang Army at all.

Although the Seventh Division did not fight very well in the battle in southern Jiangsu last year and suffered great casualties of its own, the Seventh Division was engaged in a frontal battle with the ace guard division of the Nationalist Army, and once suffered heavy losses in the offensive battle of the Nationalist Guard Division.

After the war in southern Jiangsu, Wang Ruxian's 7th Division also stayed in the Jiangbei area to deploy defenses, and built a first-line defense system in Yangzhou and Taizhou, which was one of the two main divisions under Feng Guozhang.

If the resume of the Seventh Division has been calculated, the weapons and equipment of the Seventh Division are not bad, because Feng Guozhang's Second Army is located on the Jiangbei front, and the more than 100,000 troops of the National Army are facing each other across the river, and it is responsible for preventing the National Army from crossing the river and going north along the Jinpu Line, so although Feng Guozhang has shown disobedience, Yuan Shikai has not relaxed the supply and reinforcement of the Second Army, and a large number of military expenses and ordnance have poured into the Second Army like a tide. As a result, the two divisions and one brigade under the Second Army were fully staffed, especially the most important artillery units.

And such a full formation, with experience in large-scale battles, and at the same time a long-term confrontation with the Nationalist Army in the Yangzhou area, was defeated, and it was defeated so happily and so badly.

The 15th Brigade of the Seventh Division stationed in Taizhou lost more than 3,000 in the process of retreating, and finally only escaped back to less than 1,000 people, and even the brigade commander Liu Jianzhang was seriously wounded by a bullet in the abdomen.

Liu Jianzhang was seriously injured and unconscious, whether it was Feng Guozhang or Yuan Shikai, it was naturally not good to put the responsibility on his head again, but now the 15th Brigade has less than 1,000 people left, which has simply caused a great loss of strength in the Seventh Division.

The Seventh Division, like other units of the Beiyang Army, has been expanded a lot in the past two years, and in addition to the regular establishment, the Seventh Division, like other units of the Beiyang Army, has expanded into a supplementary brigade. However, this supplementary brigade cannot be compared with the Wang Chengbin Division of the Reading Brigade built by Cao Kun before, not only is it not equipped with artillery, but there are not many other light and heavy machine guns, only two simple infantry regiments, and even the number of this infantry regiment is not full. The total strength of this supplementary brigade is only more than 3,000 people.

At present, the 15th Brigade has only less than 1,000 remnants left, and even if part of the strength of the supplementary brigade is added, it will not be able to restore the strength of the original 15th Brigade.

Although Wang Ruxian, who had lost too much strength, was able to defend in Yangzhou in the face of the attack of the Nationalist Army, it was a little difficult to counterattack, and even when he found out that the Nationalist Army had only left one regiment in Jiangdu and the main force had moved north, Wang Ruxian also pressed the counteroffensive plan proposed by his subordinates.

He was scared of being beaten, the last time he accidentally annihilated most of the 15th Brigade, which made Wang Ruxian unable to sleep at night, but now he is more cautious and will not easily get into danger. As long as Yangzhou is guarded, then you are not at fault. As for Qingjiangpu, let the others go! A huge Beiyang can't let me Wang Ruxian finish the matter, no.

In fact, Wang Ruxian is indeed not too worried about Qingjiangpu!

The remnants of Zhang Xun's Eighth Division, which had only one brigade left, would definitely not be able to stop the Nationalist Army's large-scale attack, but behind Qingjiangpu were northern Jiangsu and Shandong, and the high-ranking generals of the Beiyang Army would not fail to see the important surname of Qingjiangpu. If they want to hold Qingjiangpu, then they can send troops directly from Xuzhou to reinforce Qingjiangpu, Wang Ruxian knows that the 20th Division has just set off to prepare to go south, and the 23rd Division is still in Shandong, with these troops, Qingjiangpu seems to be dangerous but in fact the danger is not great.

However, another problem will arise in this way, that is, if the 20th Division or the 23rd Division reinforces Qingjiangpu, then accordingly they will not be able to go south to Chuzhou or Bengbu along the Jinpu line, in other words, they will not be able to go to Tang Tianxi in Chuzhou or Cao Kun in Hefei.

You must know that the strength of both the Beiyang Army and the National Army is limited, although both sides have a large number of local troops and subsidiary troops, but the real main force of the field is those main divisions, and all the Beiyang is added up to the full battle, and only seven divisions and two brigades have been invested in the Jinpu line. The National Army has more troops. Whether it is Cao Kun's Third Division, Jin Yunpeng's Fifth Division, Wang Ruxian's Seventh Division, or even Tang Tianxi's Tenth Division, in addition to the regular establishment of one division, they also have units in the name of Reading Brigade, Supplementary Brigade, Reading Regiment, and Supplementary Regiment, and the average strength of each division is more than 15,000 people, which is more than half of the more than 9,000 people in a division of the Nationalist Army.

The forces invested by the two on the Tianjin-Pudong line, including the battlefields in Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangsu, Shandong, and other provinces, were roughly comparable. The Beiyang Army has seven divisions and two mixed brigades, with a total of about 110,000 people, and the Nationalist Army has twelve divisions and four mixed brigades of about 140,000. However, this excludes a considerable number of troops that did not directly participate in the battle, such as the 23rd Division and the 5th Mixed Brigade of the Beiyang Army still in Shandong, which are still thousands of miles away, and now even Pan Juying's Beiyang 20th Division and Xu Shuzheng's 11th Division are still in the rear and have not directly engaged the Nationalist Army. The same is true of the Nationalist Army, the 11th Division, the 7th Division, the 2nd Division, and the Guard Division have not moved, in addition to the Reading Artillery Regiment and the Reading Cavalry Regiment, Nanjing, Shanghai and other local garrison regiments have also not moved, and the newly established four mixed brigades have not yet fought with the Beiyang Army. Only the 1st and 4th Divisions of the 2nd and 1st armies were actually engaged at the front, and now the 3rd Division of the 3rd Army and the 18th Mixed Brigade had to be added.

But judging from the numbers, the strength of both sides is extremely small, not even much more than Tang Jiyao, you must know that Tang Jiyao's Yunnan army has a full number of 150,000, and even Lu Rongting's Gui army has as many as 50,000 or 60,000. In fact, the number of warlords in China is not very large, and the warlords of all sizes in the country, including the Beiyang system and the national army system, as well as the Dian army and the Gui army, plus some other small warlords who do not enter the stream, such as a few in the northeast, and Long Jiguang, who are still entrenched in the border area between Guangdong and Guangxi, and many warlords in Sichuan, the total number of troops in China is only a million.

Moreover, whether it is Beiyang or the National Army, they are pursuing a policy of elite soldiers. One division costs more than three or five divisions of other warlords, and likewise, one of their divisions can fight three or five divisions of other warlords without difficulty. From the beginning to the end, their opponents could only be each other, and as for the Yunnan army or the Gui army, and even those warlords in Sichuan, they were not looked upon by the senior generals of the Nationalist Army and the Beiyang Army.

This has proved that in the hearts of Duan Zhigui and other senior Beiyang generals, the Dian army is just a remnant and a weak general, in fact, it is true, the eighth mixed brigade sent by Duan Zhigui arrived in Yucheng, and it was a division of the Yunnan army, and Tang Jiyao had to transfer several times the strength in order to deal with this eighth mixed brigade, and more than 30,000 troops were gathered around Yucheng.

As far as the two sides that are pursuing the policy of leaning troops, the movement of any main force is enough to affect the overall strategy.

Once Yuan Shikai sent the 20th or 230th Division to Qingjiangpu, then the corresponding Nationalist Army would have less pressure on two divisions in Chuzhou and Hefei. This is a great benefit to the Second Army and the First Army fighting in Anhui.

In fact, to contain the enemy forces and prevent them from reinforcing Chuzhou and Hefei, this was precisely the purpose of the Nationalist Army's campaign to cross the river in southern Jiangsu. From the beginning to the end, Shen Gang never thought that he would be able to completely take Qingjiangpu, and even if he did not continue to go north to Chuzhou or Shandong after taking Qingjiangpu, it would have no obvious impact on the overall battle situation, but would contain the tens of thousands of troops of the national army.

Both sides are now fighting wits and courage, the Nationalist Army wants to contain and mobilize the enemy, and the Beiyang Army is responsible for believing that the Nationalist Army will move north along the Qingjiangpu and then threaten Xuzhou and Shandong. So in this way, there has been a slight change in the troop movements of the two sides.

Yuan Shikai in the north did not hesitate much, in addition to calling Zhang Xun to ask him to stick to Qingjiangpu, he also strictly ordered the 23rd Division to arrive in Xuzhou within five days. As for the 20th Division, there was already a brigade of troops loaded into vehicles and headed south before this, and even Pan Juying had now arrived in Chuzhou, but the 20th Division still had a brigade in Xuzhou, and this part of the troops would not continue to move south until the 23rd Division arrived in Xuzhou.

Under these circumstances, Yuan Shikai ordered the 39th Brigade of the 20th Division to divert to Huai'an to reinforce Zhang Xun at Qingjiangpu.

When the situation in northern Jiangsu became chaotic because the Nationalist Army launched the battle to cross the river in southern Jiangsu, the Nationalist Army in Anhui also took advantage of this opportunity to launch a larger-scale offensive.

On October 7, the 9th Division of the Nationalist Army defeated the 5th Brigade of Wu Peifu's department, Wu Peifu led the army to urgently retreat to the urban area of Hefei, and on the same day, the 83rd Regiment of the 8th Division of the Nationalist Army attacked the flank of the 2nd Division of the Anhui Provincial Army from the south of Hefei to the west of Feixi, and defeated the main force of the Anhui Provincial Army in one fell swoop, annihilating more than 2,000 enemy troops. The 6th Division of the Nationalist Army, which was attacking head-on, also appropriately launched a large-scale offensive, and the 6th Brigade of the 3rd Division of the Beiyang Army was unable to support itself and had to abandon many important positions, thus shrinking its forces and consolidating the defensive line.

On October 7th, the fierce offensive launched by the Nationalist Army made Hefei even more intoxicated, and Cao Kun repeatedly sent reports to Yuan Shikai for help, and Yuan Shikai also pressed Duan Qirui to order Xu Shuzheng to speed up south from Huainan.

But now the situation in Hefei has been difficult for Cao Kun to support for too long.

"Division Commander, if we continue to fight like this, our third division will all be lost here!" Wu Peifu's eyes were red, he hadn't slept well for several days in the fierce battle, and he had just run to Cao Kun after pacifying the troops on the front line.

Cao Kun didn't speak immediately, but looked at a group of henchmen and generals below, and said after a long time: "The president trusts me and lets me guard this Hefei, if I wait to retreat, why do you let me wait to face the president?" ”

At this time, someone next to him naturally spoke: "Division commander, our army has been holding on to Hefei for more than a month, counting half a month of the Chaohu Campaign, and we have been blocking the enemy army in southern Anhui for two months. In the past two months, we have not received a single soldier or reinforcement, and even Tang Tianxi and Yu Youfu in Chuzhou are only watching dramas in Wugang, and they have never cared about our life and death. ”

Speaking of which, Cao Kun was indeed aggrieved, when he first attacked Anhui and just became the envoy of Anhui, he was so beautiful, but not long after facing the large-scale attack of the National Army, his third division pulled up to three divisions of the Anhui Provincial Army to fight head-on against the attack of up to five or six divisions of the National Army. As for the reinforcements, Tang Tianxi did not go to save Chaohu at the beginning, and now Xu Shuzheng is also unwilling to come to save Hefei.

Is it true that I want to leave all my third division in Hefei?

Cao Kun was able to climb to today's high position, naturally he was not a person with a low IQ, on the contrary, he saw it through, and knew that many people behind him were watching his jokes, regardless of his life or death, but he understood better that if he retreated, it would not be his third division that would be defeated, but the collapse of the entire Anhui situation, and even affect the victory or defeat of the entire Jinpu line.

So although the reinforcements were delayed, and the generals under him were scolding one by one, he still did not retreat, but continued to hold on to Hefei.

But he has been resisting the main force of the national army alone in southern Anhui for as many as two months, but what about the reinforcements?

Could it be that they really watched me Cao and someone beat the troops?

Cao Kun, who has always had a view of the overall situation and didn't want to live up to Yuan Shikai's trust, also had to have other thoughts today.

Seeing that Hefei can't hold it, since it can't be held, then just leave!

Two months after the outbreak of the war in Anhui, Cao Kun had the idea of retreating for the first time!

After having the intention of retreating, Cao Kun did not say it explicitly, but said in a stern tone on the spot that Hefei must be defended, and the people are in the city, such a move is naturally so that Ni Sichong next to him will not have other thoughts.

After all, even if he wanted to retreat, he had to retreat in a planned way, and he didn't want to be like Wang Ruxian, a retreat would turn into a rout. If you want to organize a retreat smoothly, then the broken troops must be wanted, and it is definitely not possible to use your own descendant troops to break the back, Cao Kun's mind is on Ni Sichong's First Division of the Anhui Provincial Army. Although the combat effectiveness of the First Division of the Anhui Provincial Army is a little worse, there are still six or seven thousand people, and it is not possible for the Nationalist Army to rush past these six or seven thousand men to pursue it in a few hours, and besides, the main force of the Third Cavalry Regiment of the Third Division is still there, and it will not be of much help in the battle to defend the city, but this cavalry will be able to play a great role when retreating, and it may even be able to make a small counterattack and severely damage the lightly armed troops pursued by the enemy.

Cao Kun wanted to break Ni Sichong's troops, but Ni Sichong was definitely not sure, so Cao Kun simply did not tell him, but directly made military adjustments, first the Fifth Brigade that had just withdrawn to the city was not dispatched, and then all the auxiliary units of the Third Division, such as the engineering battalion and the baggage battalion, were combined with the remnants of the Fifth Brigade and temporarily turned into a combat detachment, which was under the command of Wu Peifu. Then let the first division of the Anhui Provincial Army temporarily take over the outer defense line, Cao Kun was to retreat to the west with his troops that night, and after gathering the sixth brigade in the second half of the night, he launched a fierce attack on the sixth division of the national army in front of him, and successfully broke through the weak junction of the sixth division.

On the night of October 9th, Cao Kun took the remnants of the Third Division with more than 7,000 to break through to the west at night, and at this time Ni Sichong and Hu Wantao did not know that Cao Kun had run away with people, and when they reacted, the Nationalist Army on the opposite side also reacted, and the Nationalist Army naturally launched a fierce offensive in order to pursue the Beiyang Army, which made Ni Sichong and Hu Wantao too late to retreat like Cao Kun, and the remnants of the Second Division of Hu Wantao's Anhui Provincial Army were under the joint attack of two regiments of the Sixth Division of the National Army and one regiment of the Eighth Division. It was better to be messy at night, and when the Nationalist Army launched a fierce offensive during the day, the Second Division of the Anhui Provincial Army completely collapsed.

Ni Sichong was no better, and hurriedly sent a telegram to Yuan Shikai to scold Cao Kun for fleeing without permission regardless of the friendly army, and then he also broke through to the northwest with his own military camp.

Ni Sichong and Hu Wantao both know very well that as soon as Cao Kun runs now, Hefei will not be able to hold it for a day. You must know that the previous battles were all supported by the Third Division, and the troops of Ni Sichong and Hu Wantao were just playing soy sauce to watch the show, and after the Third Division left, it was impossible for Hefei to hold at all.

The Anhui War is simply a turning point, and the General Staff of the Nationalist Army is still thinking hard about breaking the situation in Anhui in this way, and even launched the southern Jiangsu River crossing operation in order to contain the troops and reduce the pressure on the Anhui side. However, it was only three or four days of work, and Cao Kun from Hefei, Anhui Province ran first.

Cao Kun wanted to leave, and it was an organized retreat, and there was a cavalry regiment under his hand to provide cover, and the Sixth Division of the National Army deployed by the National Army on the west side of Hefei really couldn't stop it, and it couldn't catch up, so he could only watch Cao Kun retreat all the way to Lu'an with the remnants of more than 7,000 people of the Third Division.

Cao Kun left, Hefei fell into the hands of the Nationalist Army has become a foregone conclusion, only the next afternoon, the Eighth Division of the Nationalist Army, Major General Zhuang Dafu has already ridden a tall horse to become the first Nationalist Army general to enter Hefei.

On the same day, Hefei Jiedian also arrived in Nanjing, so that Chen Jingyun, who was discussing military education with Jiang Fangzhen, was in a great mood after seeing Jiedian, and directly approved Jiang Fangzhen's plan for the establishment of the Army University with a stroke of a pen.