On the night of the 20th, in the west of the north bank of Nanjing, a group of about five or six hundred Beiyang soldiers wearing gray military uniforms marched westward with torches in the night.

In the middle of the team, a group of senior generals of the Beiyang Army also walked with their heads bowed and dull expressions, among these generals, there were four or five generals, and there were more than ten school officers. The presence of so many senior generals in such a small group of Beiyang Army is a very strange thing in normal times, but it is not so strange if it is in Nanjing now.

The reason is also simple, because this Beiyang Army is the Beiyang Army that Feng Guozhang personally commanded to defend Taishan Town, and the headquarters of the Second Army of the Beiyang Army was there, gathering a large number of senior generals of the Beiyang Army.

However, after the National Army Guard Division launched a general attack on Taishan Town, it had been holding on to Taishan Town for several days, with heavy casualties and lack of ammunition, and the Beiyang Army was finally unable to resist, and had lost most of the important positions in Taishan Town in the afternoon. Instead, he was ready to commit suicide with a pistol.

At that time, a group of generals of the Beiyang Army were frightened, the battle of Nanjing was defeated, as long as Feng Guozhang could break through, there would be a lot of opportunities in the future, and it was not impossible to recapture Nanjing. But if Feng Guozhang commits suicide in Taishan Town, it will be a big deal, the main general of the First Army, the two pillars of Beiyang actually committed suicide, and the morale of the Beiyang Army will be finished, and even if he escapes, there will be no good end. At that time, in order to prevent Feng Guozhang from continuing to do stupid things, a colonel bit his heart and was a knife to slash Feng Guozhang unconscious, and then the guards directly carried Feng Guozhang behind his back to follow the large army to break through and evacuate.

At the time of the breakthrough, the Beiyang Army probably still had nearly two thousand, and the main direction of attack of the National Army at that time was in the east and north, and there were not too many troops to guard the west of Taishan Town, which mainly considered that if the National Army surrounded Taishan Town, the Beiyang Army would have to carry it hard to defend if it could not break through, which was extremely unfavorable for the National Army to rush to take Taishan Town, so there was this extremely simple tactic of encircling three queyi. The main Beiyang Army couldn't stand it, and had the idea of escaping, so Taishan Town could be said.

In addition, even if the Beiyang Army has the west to escape, but it is not so easy to escape smoothly, there is a large army of guard divisions in pursuit, and the nearly 2,000 breakthroughs of the Beiyang Army have become a rout, and after nightfall, the number of Beiyang troops that successfully broke through is less than 400, and the other Beiyang troops were either annihilated and captured by the National Army or lost or fled.

When he broke through, Feng Guozhang also woke up, and he didn't get angry at his subordinates for knocking him out, nor did he say that he grabbed a pistol and continued to commit suicide, but was silent all the way.

"Go west first, then detour north and go to find Wang Ruxian's seventh division!" Feng Guozhang was a soldier, and after the anger of the defeat of Taishan Town, he quickly calmed down his mood, and then quickly made a decision. Since the town of Taishan has been lost, the northern city of Nanjing is also finished, so that after the national army occupies the northern city of Nanjing, tens of thousands of Beiyang troops on the south bank of the Yangtze River are in danger.

In the current situation, there is only one chance to turn the tide of the war, and that is to take back the northern city of Nanjing. As long as the northern city of Nanjing is recaptured, the supply of troops on the south bank of the Yangtze River can be restored at that time, as for the threat of the national navy, Feng Guozhang does not care, he has asked the only heavy artillery regiment of the Beiyang Army to go south, this heavy artillery regiment has jurisdiction over two battalions, one battalion is the 150mm Krupp heavy artillery battalion that originally belonged to the former Qing Janissary Guard, a total of 18 guns, after the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai changed the Janissary Army to the 16th Division, and this heavy artillery battalion was also transferred from the direct jurisdiction of the War Department. Subsequently, the War Department transferred some old stockpiles of heavy artillery and other places into another heavy artillery battalion, with a total of 18 five-inch guns and six-inch guns, and the two heavy artillery battalions were combined to form a reading heavy artillery regiment.

Although the chaotic heavy artillery battalion formed at the back of this heavy artillery regiment was not very good, the heavy artillery battalion that originally belonged to the Praetorian Guard was a sharp weapon for killing the enemy. As long as Feng Guozhang took down the north bank of Nanjing, then set up an artillery position, and put this artillery regiment on the table, that is, dozens of five-inch guns and six-inch guns against the few battleships of the Nationalist Navy staying on the Yangtze River, and the admirals who had a little sense had to retreat.

And the key now is how to take Nanjing back. Before thinking about how to recapture Nanjing, he Feng Guozhang first found Wang Ruxian's Seventh Division.

This night was destined to be unsettled, the main force of the guard division that had just captured Taishan Town had not had time to rest, the first regiment of the guard division and related troops rushed to Jiejiazhuang, and then the other troops of the guard division were to clear the remnants of the Beiyang Army in other places in the north city of Nanjing, and lay the foundation for the Nanjing defense line that the Nationalist Army was about to build.

On the same night, Ma Cheng's 1st Division and Lin Zhaomin's 7th Division, which received the order, launched a counteroffensive overnight, Ma Cheng's 1st Division and Jin Yunpeng's 5th Division of the Beiyang Army fought fiercely on the Lishui front, while Lin Zhaomin mobilized the main force to launch a large-scale assault on Dazhuo Town.

Also this night, Cao Kun on the front line of Zhenjiang was as anxious as an ant in a hot pot.

"What the hell is going on, why haven't you contacted the military headquarters yet, what's going on over there in Taishan Town?" Cao Kun loudly reprimanded the adjutant below him.

The adjutant of the major said: "At noon, we have lost contact with the army headquarters, and after troubleshooting, it has been confirmed that it is not our wireless telegraph machine failure, it should be a fault in Taishan Town!" ”

"Damn wireless telegraphy!" Cao Kun scolded and scolded, before Xinhai last year, the Beiyang Army did not have many wireless telegraphs, but after the Hubei war, the rapid communication ability of wireless telegraphy made the generals of the Beiyang Army greatly appreciated, and in just one year, the Beiyang Army was equipped with wireless telegraph machines for all divisions of the Beiyang Army, and the Beiyang Army's ability to accept fresh weapons and equipment was not much worse than that of the National Army and even the troops of the great powers, but it was limited to funds and could not be installed on a large scale, and at present, the wireless telegraph machines of the Beiyang Army could only be installed to the division level, and there was no equipment for the regimental level.

In the previous war, the wireless telegraph machine had played a major role, and Cao Kun's external communication basically relied on wireless telegraphy and Feng Guozhang was in contact with Yuan Shikai. But this wireless telegraph is good, but failures often occur.

At this critical moment, Cao Kun lost contact with Taishan Town, so that he could not know what the battle situation was in Nanjing, and the Nationalist Army did not publicize it publicly, but took secrecy so that the Nationalist Army could launch a large-scale counterattack, so that Cao Kun still did not know what was going on in Nanjing.

"Is Taishan lost or not, who the fuck can give me a letter?" Cao Kun felt that he was about to explode: "Also, what did Wang Ruxian say, when will they be able to take Jiejiazhuang?" ”

However, the group of officers below did not know more than Cao Kun, and they could only be silent collectively if they could answer in the face of Cao Kun's madness.

Cao Kun is feeling terrible now, not because he is so idle that he has to pay attention to the battle in Taishan Town and Hejiazhuang, but because the war in these two directions is related to the life and death of his third division. If Wang Ruxian can successfully take Jiejiazhuang, and then Feng Guozhang can hold Taishan Town, then there is no danger on the north bank of Nanjing, and if there is no danger on the north bank of Nanjing, then although Cao Kun's Third Division and Jin Yunpeng's Fifth Division, which are on the south bank of the Yangtze River, will be difficult for a while, but the danger is not great. But if the north bank of Nanjing is lost, then the trouble will be great, and he Cao Kun will have to think about how to keep his third division.

If the communication between Cao Kun and Taishan Town had not been interrupted, and he had learned that Taishan Town had fallen in the afternoon, Cao Kun would have withdrawn his troops without saying a word.

But now there is no letter in Taishan Town, and he Cao Kun is not easy to handle, after all, neither Feng Guozhang nor Yuan Shikai have given him an order to allow him to retreat on his own initiative, if Feng Guozhang holds the north bank of Nanjing, he Cao Kun takes the initiative to retreat from Zhenjiang, then he will cause himself a big trouble. In this case, he can only continue to wait anxiously.

While Cao Kun was waiting for news from Feng Guozhang, Lin Zhaomin's 7th Division had already launched a fierce attack in the direction of Dazhuo Town, trying to cut off the retreat of Cao Kun's 3rd Division and part of Zhang Xun's 8th Division.

This night is destined to be an extraordinary night.

Although there was a commotion outside, Chen Jingyun slept very well this night, and when he got up in the sun the next day, Chen Jingyun's spirit was very good, and after having breakfast with Dong Bai's family, he went to the staff headquarters to go around in a circle, although the battle ahead has reached the last moment, but Chen Jingyun does not interfere much in the specific affairs of these operations, plus Yuan Fang and Liang Xunqin are busy, Chen Jingyun is not good at taking up their time to hang out with him, So after listening to a briefing from the staff for a while, I left.

On this day, he was in the mood and interested, so the surname Suo went back to the mansion, planning to accompany Dong Bai's family to lie down and enjoy the warm sunshine in the winter. Dong Baishi saw that Chen Jingyun was rare not to deal with official business, but came back to accompany him, and he also curled up in Chen Jingyun's arms happily.

So, such a morning passed, and after eating lunch, Chen Jingyun saw that there was no special arrangement today, so he thought about being lazy for another afternoon and continuing to accompany Dong Bai's sun to enjoy life.

But just after eating, Yu Shifeng came and said that someone asked to see him, and asked who it was, Yu Shifeng said that it was Cen Chunxuan, and when he heard the name, Chen Jingyun was a little surprised.