February 11, 1919, 3 a.m. Tieshi Hutong, Beijing, ruling government.

"Again! The vanguard of the Northern Expeditionary Army has already reached Tai'an! If you can reach Jinan in less than three days, Zhang Zizhi's Fifth Division will not be able to hold Jinan at all! As soon as Jinan is lost, the gateway to Beijing and Tianjin will be opened! Now we must immediately send troops to reinforce Jinan, we can't wait any longer! ”

Feng Yuxiang's tower-like figure was walking around Xu Shuzheng's office, loudly proposing to the consul of Beijing's ruling government. After the Northern Expeditionary Army divided its troops into two routes and launched a large-scale attack along the Jinpu and Longhai railways, a fierce debate began in the Beiyang base camp in Beijing, and the content of the debate was naturally whether the main attack direction of the Northern Expeditionary Army was Jinpu Road or Longhai Road.

However, as the news of "Yucheng's 235th Champion Seeking a Monthly Pass and Subscription Victory" and the fall of Tai'an reached Beijing one after another, the senior Beiyang generals who remained in Beijing seemed to have reached a consensus on the direction of the Northern Expeditionary Army's main attack. Everyone believes that the main target of the Northern Expeditionary Army is Jinan! Xu Shuzheng, of course, was no exception, and just last evening, he also sent a telegram to Wu Peifu, proposing that the main force of the Third Front Army and the Second Army of the First Front Army form a reinforcement to be sent to Jinan.

However, Wu Peifu asked Xu Shuzheng to wait for two more days, and did not agree to divert the Second Army in the direction of Zhengtai Road to rescue Jinan. Xu Shuzheng couldn't make up his mind for a while, so he invited Feng Yuxiang to his ruling government to discuss countermeasures before dawn.

However, Feng Yuxiang's point of view is the opposite of what Wu Peifu and others have seen. He walked to the opposite side of Xu Shuzheng's desk, stood still, held the office with both hands, looked at Xu Shuzheng with blazing eyes, and said loudly: "The three armies are harmful." The greatest hesitation! Now that a decisive battle has emerged, it is imperative to make a quick decision. You can't look ahead and don't think about everything. Now the overall situation is that the enemy is strong and I am weak, how can it be perfect? is as hesitant as Wu Ziyu, and the final result is only the 235th lone soldier who asks for a monthly pass and a subscription can be a lost fighter! Once Jinan is taken by the Southern Army, the entire Zhili Plain will be in no danger to defend! Your Excellency the Archon! Hurry up and give the order for reinforcements! ”

Since the Northern Expeditionary Army began to march west and north in two ways, Xu Shuzheng has not closed his eyes, and now he is a little dazed. He sat upright in his chair, trying to straighten his waist, and looked at the tall Feng Yuxiang with bloodshot eyes. Of course, he understands how critical the situation in Beiyang has become. Of course, Jinan City cannot be lost. However, the main force of the Beiyang Army deployed along the Longhai Road must not be missed! The so-called land is lost and people are lost. He still understands the truth of the loss of man and land...... If Jinan is lost, Beiyang may not perish, the big deal is to give up the Zhili Jingshi and retreat to the northwest to continue to deal with the Nationalist Government. But if the main force is left on Longhai Road, then Beiyang is really only a dead end!

"Again. Can't hesitate any longer! If we don't save Zhang Zizhi when he sees death, he may have to learn from Lu Zijia and lead the troops to defect! At that time, we will be in turmoil and defeated without a fight! ”

Speaking of the words "defeat without a fight", Feng Yuxiang's teeth were about to be crushed, his face was full of resentment, his big hand slapped the desk hard, and almost roared to Xu Shuzheng: "If our Beiyang loses to the Northern Expeditionary Army on the battlefield, it will be forgotten, it will be our incompetence to lead troops to fight...... But if it is again. Repeatedly defeated without a fight, what is the matter? Will future generations say that about us? Again, I, Feng Yuxiang, as a soldier, would rather die on the battlefield than endure the humiliation of defeat without a fight! If you don't agree with me to lead troops to the south, then I will go south alone. Go to war with the Northern Expeditionary Army! ”

Regarding Feng Yuxiang's words that seemed to come from the bottom of his heart, Xu Shuzheng didn't feel too much, but just asked lightly: "If the main direction of the Southern Army's attack is on the front line of Longhai Road, what should we do?" ”

Feng Yuxiang replied categorically: "Then I will command the army on the Jinpu Road to attack Xuzhou!" The main force of our Third Front Army, plus the Second Army and the Fifth Division in Jinan, had a total strength of around 1120,000. As long as Wu Ziyu can hold back the main force of the Southern Army on the Longhai Road, I will be able to fight all the way to Xuzhou! ”

Xu Shuzheng nodded heavily, he was obviously persuaded by Feng Yuxiang's last words: "Okay, I will hand over the First Division, Eleventh Division, Fifteenth Division, Sixteenth Division, and Second Army of the Third Front Army to you, and the Fifth Division of Jinan will also be under your command, and the above departments will form the Jinpu Road Front Army from now on...... Go West! Go West!

In the darkness of the night, the officers and men of the National Revolution in yellow uniforms were rolling forward. The sound of people shouting and neighing. On both sides of the Longhai Railway on the vast Central Plains Plain. The three-way army left behind its baggage, only took weapons, ammunition and three days' rations, and was desperately hurrying, just to complete the encirclement of the Beiyang Third Division in the shortest possible time!

In fact, before Chang Ruiqing made up his mind to encircle and annihilate the Third Beiyang Division, the main force of the entire Western Advance Corps had already divided into three routes and rushed forward from the rear area! The main force of the Fifth Army on the North Road (owed to the 15th Division) advanced southwest from Shanxian, the 13th Division went straight to Shangqiu to block the reinforcements of Beiyang, and the 14th Division and the troops directly under the Fifth Army went straight to the northwest of Yucheng, preparing to surround the main force of the 3rd Division of the Beiyang Army in Yucheng with friendly forces.

And in the middle road, the 15th Division of the Fifth Army, the 21st Division of the Seventh Army, and the New Eighth Division of the Chinese G Party Army formed a temporary detachment to launch a counterattack against the enemy in Yucheng! Leading the way was still the "repeated defeats" of the New Eighth Division, whose task was to engage the Northern Army in Yucheng before the follow-up troops arrived at the front line, not to defeat them, but only to prevent them from retreating to Shangqiu.

To the south of the Longhai line, the main force of the Seventh Army (the 21st Division) attacked from Xiayi, and the two divisions also attacked Shangqiu and Yucheng respectively. Prepare to fight a battle of annihilation with the other two friendly forces on the Yucheng-Shangqiu line.

The Northern Advance Corps, which was advancing north along the Jinpu Road, was also ordered to transfer the Second Army and the Eleventh Army to turn south and return to Xuzhou. The three armies around Xuzhou have also been ordered to move closer to Xuzhou, and these five armies will become the general reserve of the "Shangqiu-Yucheng Campaign", and once the main force of the Beiyang Army near Kaifeng advances eastward, they will also immediately enter the battle and start a life-and-death battle with the Northern Army along the Longhai Road!

In addition, the Second Front Army of the Northern Expeditionary Army, which was deployed on the Jinghan Road, was also given the opportunity to attack southern Henan along the Jinghan Line Railway. Instructions to threaten the rear of the flanks of the main forces of the Beiyang Army.

In the cold wind of winter in the Central Plains, the main force of the Western Advance Corps received the order to attack. Rushing forward in a mighty way. Before the marching column of the main force, there were cavalry units at the corps and division levels, whose task was to clear the reconnaissance cavalry of the Third Division of the Northern Army and ensure the concealment of the army's movements and the suddenness of the attack to the greatest extent.

At this time, outside Zhangjiaji, less than two kilometers east of Yucheng County, the second and third regiments of the newly formed Eighth Division had already quietly touched up at night! These two regiments did not take part in today's daytime battle, but have been lurking in several villages east of Yucheng. Due to the turmoil and war since the end of the Qing Dynasty, in order to guard against bandits, most of the villages in the three provinces of Zhilu and Henan were built like castles. As soon as the army and a large group of bandits cross the border, they will close the Zhuangmen and gather people to defend themselves. Unless there is a threat of force against the border. Otherwise, the door will never be opened. As a result, the small group of scouts of the 3rd Division could not search the closed gates of the "castles" one by one, and there was no way to know the enemy forces lurking under their noses.

So in the early morning of February 11, the two regiments under the command of Huang Gongluo sneaked to the headquarters of the 11th Regiment of the Zhangjiaji Northern Army and the 1st and 2nd battalions of the regiment. This big village, where thousands of families live, is still quiet, there is no light, and none of the soldiers of the Northern Army who are on the front line of the guard show their heads. It seems to be sleeping behind the walls of Zhuangzi. Just when Huang Gongluo wondered if his team had gone off the rails, or if the intelligence was wrong, a comrade from the Longhai Railway Trade Union who brought them here leaned into his ear and whispered: "Chief Huang, that's right, it must be here!" The whole Zhuangzi is quiet, as if there is no one, and there is no one patrolling on the wall of Zhuangzi, there must be a Northern Army Brigade stationed here! ”

Huang Gong was stunned for a moment: "How can you see it?" The trade union cadre said with certainty: "If there is no Northern Army in Zhuangzi, there must be regimental soldiers with torches and rifles on their backs patrolling here." There will also be people knocking on the bangs to shout that they are safe. All the Zhuangzi in this area are like this at night, and it is impossible to be quiet unless the bandits are slaughtered, or there is a large regular army stationed in it. ”

Comrade Huang Gongluo, who was born as a soldier and had served as a platoon commander in the Hunan Army, seems to have understood a little. It turns out that the excessive tranquility of this Zhuangzi just shows that there is a large army hidden here! The trade union cadre in front of him really has some military talent, and he will finish this battle. Or talk to him and see if you can let him participate in the work of the new Eighth Division? With a wave of his hand, he sent the leading trade union cadres to retreat, and then gave the order to start the attack.

The first to fire were two mortars, which had been borrowed from the Seventh Army along with artillery after the start of the Longhai Road operation. Hearing only two soft sounds of "Pengpeng", two mortar shells were ejected, and a few seconds later, they suddenly exploded on the wall of Zhangjiaji's village. Immediately afterwards, rows of grenades were thrown by the daredevils who touched the village wall, and exploded on the wall where the Beiyang soldiers were stationed.

The fierce firelight almost dazzled the eyes of Huang Gongluo, who was holding a telescope to watch the battle, and also caught the Beiyang Army stationed here by surprise! The 11th Beiyang Regiment was in the vanguard during the daytime battle, chasing the New Eighth Division all the way, and after taking Yucheng County, the main force of the regiment (owing a battalion) also pursued for several miles. The head of the regiment, Chen Qingyuan, felt that it was getting late, and the opponent was tofu scum, so he didn't bother to rush back to Yucheng County overnight, but "shouted" to open a big Zhuangzi and stationed there. Of course, the landlords and old fortunes in this Zhangjiaji also have to break the bank

When the night attack of the Northern Expeditionary Army began, Grand Master Chen was hugging the concubine of a certain big landlord in the warm bed. Hearing the sudden explosion and the shouts of killing in Jiangxi and Hunan accents, he knew that his troops had been attacked at night. However, the commander of the 11th Beiyang Regiment did not look panicked in the slightest, slowly got up from the bed, patted the woman who was trembling with fear, and asked her to wait for her to put on her military uniform, and then swaggered to her regiment headquarters.

At this time, the regimental headquarters was also in good order, and the chief staff officer of the regimental headquarters had already contacted all the battalion headquarters and company headquarters by telephone to find out the situation ahead. Seeing Grand Master Chen walk in, the chief staff officer put down the telephone receiver in his hand and stepped forward to report the situation.

"Regiment commander, the number of southern soldiers is estimated at more than three thousand. The attack was launched from the east, south, and north of Zhuangzi almost simultaneously, and the main direction of attack was estimated to be east. They deployed two mortars in that direction, the first and second companies in the east suffered certain losses, with more than thirty casualties, and the losses on the north and south sides were minimal, and the west was not attacked. ”

"Wai Sanque Yi, hehe, these southern soldiers still know a little bit of the art of war." Chen Qingyuan smiled coldly, leaned over and looked at the military map spread on the map table, thought for a while, and said: "There should be ambushes on the road to Yucheng County in the west, if it is during the day, we will not be afraid of them, but it will be difficult to be ambushed at night." Let's wait until dawn and see how it goes. There's nothing wrong with that, right? ”

The chief staff officer smiled: "What can be the problem?" The only problem was that the attack of the southern soldiers lasted before dawn, and the brothers were beaten to the ground and fled! ”

As soon as these words came out. There was a sound of laughter inside the regiment headquarters. If these officers of the 11th Regiment of the Beiyang Army knew that their two superiors, Xiao Yaonan and Zhang Fulai, were arguing over whether to give up their more than 1,000 brothers, they probably wouldn't have laughed so happily.

"Ziheng! A large force of cavalry of the Southern Army appeared on the north and south sides of the Longhai Road, and behind these cavalry must be their main force, if I guess correctly, their target is our lone detachment! We can't stay in Yucheng any longer. It is necessary to retreat to Shangqiu immediately! Don't care about the more than 1,000 people in Zhangjiaji! ”

Xiao Yaonan stood in front of Zhang Fulai, with an anxious look on his face. Most of the scouts of the 3rd Division, which were scattered in the evening, did not return on time! A small number of those who came back reported that they had contact with the cavalry of the Southern Army! Moreover, the checkpoints deployed on the plains on both sides of the Longhai Line have also received news one after another, and many of them have reported that they have heard N gunshots! It is also completely different from the miscellaneous 79 rifles equipped by the New Eighth Division that fought before, or the 3rd Beiyang Division equipped with rifles made in Hanyang/Gongxian! It seems to be the sound of a Japanese Type 38 rifle! The two arsenals in Shanghai and Fuzhou in the south introduced this rifle from Japan last year, and it was also named the Minqi rifle, which is now the standard equipment of the descendants of the Southern Army! This shows that the main force of the Southern Army is very likely to have reached the vicinity of Yucheng, and in this case, the best choice for this detachment, which is almost alone in the county seat of Yucheng, must be to retreat immediately.

But Zhang Fulai was reluctant. Because the regimental headquarters and two battalions of the 11th Regiment, which he commanded the most capable of fighting, were now stationed in Zhangjiaji, east of Yucheng County, and were also attacked by the Southern Army. He just glanced at Xiao Yaonan, turned his head and asked the chief of staff of the Third Division: "Is there anything new in the 11th Regiment?" The chief of staff shook his head: "There is no new report coming, and the transportation from Zhangjiaji to us may be cut off by this southern army?" Division commander, should we send a regiment out to meet them? ”

I heard that I had to send a regiment out. Xiao Yaonan was even more anxious, and without waiting for Zhang Fulai to make a decision, he shouted again: "Brother Ziheng!" We can't hesitate any longer, let's withdraw quickly! Two battalions are nothing to our First Front...... Before he finished speaking, he was coldly interrupted by Zhang Fulai: "Our Third Division has no tradition of leaving brothers and running away!" With that, he turned back to his chief of staff and gave an order: "Let the 10th Regiment go out to meet the 11th Regiment, tell them not to fight, and return to Yucheng immediately after rescuing the 11th Regiment." ”

Xiao Yaonan knew that the other party was reluctant to have two battalions of soldiers, and those people were nothing to the overall situation of the entire Beiyang, but for Zhang Fulai, the division commander, they were a decisive force! You must know that the entire Third Division has only twelve infantry battalions!

"Ziheng, I want to report this matter to Yushuai and make his decision." Knowing that he couldn't convince Zhang Fulai, Xiao Yaonan stomped his foot and walked in the direction of telegraph defense.

Looking at the back of Xiao Yaonan leaving, Zhang Fulai's expression was slightly distressed. But more still disdainful. He looked at the chief of staff beside him who had just finished giving an order to the Tenth Regiment on the phone, and sneered: "This Xiao Lanling has never fought any battles when he arrives, and he panics when he encounters a little thing. ”

His chief of staff echoed with a smile: "He, Xiao Lanling, can compare with the division commander, you, the division commander, have earned it from the battlefield with a knife and a gun!" With you leading our third division, even if there are 100,000 enemy troops surrounding, we can also kill them! ”

Zhang Fulai frowned, why did his chief of staff sound so unlucky? This does not bode well! He thought for a while, and then ordered: "Pass my order, let all the departments do the order to be pulled, and we will leave when the people of the tenth and eleventh regiments come back." By the way, is the Fifth Brigade in Shangqiu now? ”

"It's already here."

Zhang Fulai nodded: "Okay, let them send a group to occupy Zhangge Town to pick us up!" As soon as he gave the order, he seemed to think of something again, and then asked: "Has the third division of the participating army arrived in Lankao?" ”

The chief of staff shook his head and said with a wry smile: "Where do they have the speed of our third division?" These soldiers will not get on the train until after dawn, and they will not be able to reach Lankao at noon today. ”

Zhang Fulai sighed bitterly, and complained in a low voice: "I get ten percent of the salary, but I do this kind of thing that drops the chain, this participating army, alas" (Welcome to your support, is my biggest motivation.) )rv！！！