readx; Xinhai Great Warlord 497_Xinhai Great Warlord_

It didn't take too long, a 60 mm mortar manufactured by the Fuzhou Arsenal appeared in this group of guards, during the Northern Expedition War, the Nationalist Army and the Dian Army and the Gui Army did a lot of ordnance business, the Nationalist Army sold a large number of second-hand ordnance to the Dian Army and the Gui Army, although the rifle was the mainstay, but some old artillery and even mortars were also bought, and today the Nationalist Army and the Dian Army and the Gui Army went to war, and the mortars produced by the Fuzhou Arsenal were used to attack the Nationalist Army. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo.. However, even with today's situation, Chen Jingyun still chose to sell weapons to Tang Jiyao and Lu Rongting at that time, on the one hand, in addition to the conditions of the tripartite alliance at the beginning, on the other hand, if Chen Jingyun did not sell them to them, they would also choose to import weapons at that time, people said, 'There are a lot of retired 30-year-old rifles and retired old artillery, and the arms dealers of the other powers also have a large supply of weapons, if the national army does not sell to the Yunnan army, the Yunnan army and the Gui army can also directly import weapons, In this case, it is better for the national army to buy it itself, on the one hand, to digest the inventory of those seized second-hand and outdated weapons, and on the other hand, to use the obtained funds to replace themselves with newer weapons.

As for mortars, if the Nationalist Army does not buy them, then the Dian Army and the Gui Army will make their own, anyway, the seamless steel pipes are imported, although the Dian Army and the Gui Army may be worse than the surname, but they can definitely be made, and the Nationalist Army surnamed Suo might as well sell it directly, make the price more expensive, and supply it in limited quantities.

The 60 mm mortar was quickly arranged, and after a short time, the mortar guarding ** was adjusted to the parameters, and soon a shell was fired from the barrel of this mortar, followed by a burst of explosions in the dilapidated small building where Sergeant Li and others of the National Army were staying.

The explosion made the already damaged small building even more crumbling, and Sergeant Li looked at it twice and said, "We can't stay here, let's go to the side!" ”

As soon as these three people were transferred, the second and third mortar shells of the guard ** fell into this dilapidated small building, and the bearded captain of the guard ** used a telescope to see that there was no obvious trace of the enemy in the small building not far away, and immediately waved his hand, and a lieutenant officer behind him shouted: "Get up, get up, attack!" And he left the bunker with seven or eight people and continued to move forward, and at this time, the crisp gunfire rang out again, this time, the lieutenant who led the team fell to the ground, and the seven or eight guards behind him ran backwards, trying to run back into the bunker.

When the bearded captain saw this scene, he scolded in Sichuan again: "Mortar, hit me, hit me hard!" ”

In the heavy machine gun position dozens of meters away from here, the situation is not so calm here, in the face of the enemy's continuous charge, although the MG08 heavy machine gun continues to fire bullets, but still failed to stop the hundreds of guards ** in turn.

At this critical juncture, the clatter of the MG08 heavy machine gun suddenly stopped, and a lieutenant in charge of the command hurriedly shouted: "What's going on, why did it stop?" ”

The sergeant in charge of directing the machine gun looked nervous: "The water is gone!" ”

"Didn't you send someone to find water a long time ago, why haven't you come back yet!" The lieutenant said with a look of anger on his face.

The sergeant said, "I haven't come back yet!" ”

In addition to the captured 38 heavy machine guns and Hatch Chase heavy machine guns, most of the heavy machine guns equipped by the National Army are MG08 heavy machine guns, and MG08 heavy machine guns are water-cooled heavy machine guns. If the cooling water is not replenished in time, then the barrel of the MG08 heavy machine gun will soon be scrapped. Therefore, when deploying water-cooled heavy machine guns, the first thing to do is to ensure sufficient water sources, and once those heavy machine guns are deployed in the field, the first thing the commander of the commander is to find a water source.

The lieutenant looked at the group of soldiers who had not been suppressed by the heavy machine gun and then charged again, and then looked at the dozen or so people on his side and the heavy machine gun whose barrel had been scrapped, he licked his lips that were already a little chapped, and then said: "Prepare to retreat, take the heavy machine gun away!" ”

Without the support of heavy machine guns under such a disadvantaged force, it will definitely not be able to hold on, and it is impossible to retreat. Although taking the heavy machine gun away when retreating will greatly drag down the mobility of the troops, but the heavy machine gun is too important, in the mind of any officer, the value of a heavy machine gun is much higher than the value of a dozen soldiers, their team is for this heavy machine gun to serve, if the heavy machine gun is thrown here in order to escape and then captured by the escort, it is very likely that you will need to pay at least dozens of people's lives when you counterattack, so even if the barrel has been deformed and cannot be used temporarily, But he still had to bring back the heavy machine gun, and when the time came, he would be able to get back to normal if he changed the barrel.

Probably from the moment the heavy machine guns of the national army stopped firing, the situation on the battlefield had begun to tilt towards the protective side, and there was no intensive fire interception by the heavy machine guns, and the infantry of the national army in charge of this area soon showed signs of collapse under the attack of the superior forces of the protective army, and in order to avoid heavy casualties among the troops, the commander of the national army in charge of the defense of this area soon issued a retreat order, ordering the front-line troops to retreat to the second line of defense.

When fierce fighting broke out at this crossroads, the eastern part of the Xiangjiang River, that is, the Changsha Railway Station in the eastern part of Changsha, was full of Nationalist soldiers wearing brown and green military uniforms, and many of them were constantly coming and going. As one of the few concrete buildings in the Changsha city, the Changsha Railway Station, which was completed only two months ago, has been used as the military command post of the Fourth Army.

In addition to being used as the headquarters of the Fourth Army, the Changsha Railway Station was also used as a logistics supply station for tens of thousands of Nationalist troops deployed in Hunan Province. Due to transportation, since the Yueyang-Changsha railway was opened to traffic a month ago, the Changyue railway has become an important way to supply the national army in Hunan Province.

Since the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway was obtained by the Germans to build the right, the Germans are still more attentive, in the entire Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway jacket is divided into three sections at the same time, respectively, Guangzhou to Shaoguan direction, the other is from Wuhan to Yueyang direction repair, the other is from Yueyang to Changsha direction, although the southern line is slow because of construction difficulties, but the northern line is relatively easy, before the Chinese side took over the Guangdong-Hankou Railway, the Germans have almost repaired the Changyue Railway, After the Chinese side took over the construction of the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway, because it was preparing to use troops in the southwest region, Chen Jingyun also instructed the Railway Department to speed up the construction of the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway, so after the rush to work, the Changyue Railway was successfully opened to traffic a month ago, and as soon as this section of the railway was opened, Yueyang became an important material collection point for the Nationalist Army along the Yangtze River, and a large number of military supplies were transported from the Yangtze River Delta to Yueyang through the Yangtze River, and then transported to Changsha by railway. After the opening of the Changyue Railway, the Railway Division did not stop the pace, but further accelerated the construction of the railway from Wuhan to Yueyang, trying to use the railway to connect Wuhan and Yueyang in the shortest possible time, in other words, to connect Wuhan with Changsha, so that the main force of the National Army deployed in the north can go south at any time, and the Railway Department has patted its chest and assured the Army Logistics Department that within two months at the earliest, no more than three months, the Railway Department will be able to open the railway from Wuhan to Yueyang. The military operations of the Nationalist Army in the southwestern provinces will not be delayed.

Although some of the standards have been lowered due to the rush of construction, and even some sections of the road that are difficult to build are made of temporary military railway standards, as long as they can be opened to traffic in time, then these costs can be bearable, and these temporary military railways can be slowly replaced with standard railways in peacetime in the future. During the Russo-Russian War, in order to solve the problem of transportation and supply difficulties, the army built a military railway from Dandong to Mukden, which was changed to a civilian railway after the war.

In a certain cement office building of this brand-new Changsha Railway Station, Lin Chengkun is sitting in the same room with a group of senior generals of the Fourth Army, and the colonel chief of staff of the 10th Division is holding a baton and pointing to the large military map of Changsha City on the wall: "At present, the offensive of the Yunnan army in the No. 9 area is relatively large, according to the latest information, it has occupied the No. 9 area an hour ago, and is currently advancing to the No. 10 area, and the current defense of the No. 10 area is a battalion under the 12 th Regiment of our division. The division is currently suffering heavy casualties and has requested reinforcements from our divisional headquarters. ”

After saying that, he did not stop, but moved the command list and then pointed to the other corner of the area and said: "The Gui army in the seventeenth area has gathered at least one regiment of 2,000 troops to attack the third battalion of the eleventh regiment of our division, and the battalion has successfully repelled the enemy's three attacks before and after, and the current defense line is still solid!"

In the No. 14 area, the core of the front, the two battalions of the 13th Regiment of our army are still fighting fiercely with the enemy, judging from the number of the enemy troops reported by the 13th Regiment, the enemy troops in the No. 14 area have at least three enemy regiments, and it is roughly estimated that the enemy strength in this area will not be less than 5,000 people. ”

With the narration of the chief of staff of the 10th Division, Lin Chengkun's face became deeper and darker, and after a long time, after the chief of staff stopped talking, Lin Chengkun said: "Judging from the number of the enemy army that appears now, then there are at least three enemy divisions!" ”

At this time, Deng Panzhi, the chief of staff of the Fourth Army next to him, said: "Among these three divisions, one is the thirteenth division of the Gui Army. The other two divisions were the 17th Division and the 15th Division of the Dian Army. The combined strength of these three divisions reached almost 40,000 troops, and when the air force conducted aerial reconnaissance of the surrounding areas around Changsha in the morning, it found that there were traces of enemy troops on both the west and south sides, although it was impossible to know the number of the enemy army for the time being, but the total strength of these two forces should be at least about 20,000 people, and according to their distance, they would join the battle this evening at the latest! ”

Lin Chengkun said: "What about the Fourth Mixed Brigade over there in Zhuzhou? Got in touch? ”

Deng Pan Zhizhi: "The wireless telegraph of the 4th Mixed Brigade was out of order before, and we only contacted the 4th Mixed Brigade at noon, but the situation over there was not very good, and according to the report of the 4th Mixed Brigade, they were also attacked by the Gui army in the morning!" Although they don't have much of a problem protecting themselves, if they want to get rid of the Gui army's containment and go north to support us, I'm afraid it will be impossible in a short time! ”

When he heard that the Fourth Mixed Brigade could not go north to support, Lin Chengkun's face darkened: "What about Cao Kun's 30th Division over there?" When will I arrive? ”

Deng Pan Zhidao: "Our army has already sent a telegram asking for help in the morning, and the 30th Division of Yueyang has immediately set off, but it will take at least two days to reach Changsha!" ”

After Lin Chengkun heard these words, he closed his eyes and pondered, Cao Kun's 30th Division will not arrive until two days later, and he knows that this time is still estimated optimistically, the transfer of a huge division is not just a matter of leaving, it takes time to mobilize trains to transport infantry and transport weapons and baggage, and it takes two days to urgently transfer more than 110 kilometers, which is already very fast, and these two days are just infantry units that came lightly, and heavy firepower such as artillery has to be delayed for a while!

The 4th Mixed Brigade in Zhuzhouli, south of Changsha, was also entangled by the Gui army, making it impossible to reinforce Changsha. That is to say, Changsha had to rely on a 10th Division to carry out defensive operations in these days, and even if there were some directly subordinate units of the Fourth Army in Changsha, there were not many directly subordinate troops in this part, and their role was not great.

Now the 10th Division in Changsha City has already faced the attack of three divisions of the enemy, and in four or five hours, that is, tonight, the Dian Army and the Gui Army will reinforce two divisions of troops, and then the 10th Division of the National Army will be one to five! And this 10th Division is not the 9th Division, the number one ace of the Nationalist Army, let alone the first and only 11th Division in the whole army to complete the establishment in 1915, the 10th Division is just an ordinary infantry division of the Nationalist Army, and it is not the kind that is not reorganized. Because the 10th Division was stationed in Changsha for a long time after capturing Changsha, because the Nationalist Army then focused on the Northern Expedition and the subsequent Qingdao Campaign, it did not replenish the troops in Hunan and Guangdong on a large scale, so although the 10th Division replaced the original artillery regiment composed of two 60-mm artillery battalions with one 17 times mountain artillery and two 14 times mountain artillery battalions, the heavy machine gun and mortar firepower did not increase much. Even the number of soldiers did not reach the full strength of more than 13,000 in 1914, only about 11,000.

If such a 10th Division fights with the Gui Army or the Dian Army, there is no problem in fighting 10,000 people to protect the first half of the army, and it can be equal and maintain a local advantage if it fights with 40,000 guards, but if it wants to fight with 40,000 guards, the pressure it faces is not only one or two times, but three or four times, and it is extremely difficult to maintain a strategic defensive position. And if it wants to fight with 60,000 guards, it will be extremely difficult for the 10th Division to even protect itself.

The advantage brought by the increase in troops is not a simple proportional increase, but the effect of one plus one is greater than two!

In front of five or six times the enemy's army, will the 10th Division still be able to hold Changsha? If it cannot be defended, once Changsha is withdrawn, Changsha will completely fall into the hands of the Dian army and the Gui army, and without Changsha as a support point, the national army scattered in the vast area of Hunan will evolve into fighting its own battle, and then the mixed brigades of the national army in Zhuzhou, Hengyang and other areas will be defeated by the enemy forces with superior strength. And the next thing is a big strategic failure, if the situation in Hunan really evolves like that at that time, Lin Chengkun asked himself that he would have no face to face Chen Jingyun, and no face to face hundreds of thousands of soldiers and colleagues of the National Army.

If you stubbornly defend and face an attack by more than five or six times the enemy's superior forces, then it is very likely that the 10th Division will be encircled, and in the end, it will even be swallowed up by itself, the headquarters of the Fourth Army, and this result is also unacceptable to Lin Chengkun.

Lin Chengkun found that today turned out to be the most serious crisis he had encountered since he joined the army, and it was also the biggest crisis since the formation of the National Army!

Will it take the initiative to retreat and gather the 30th Division and then counterattack Changsha, or will it hold on here and wait for reinforcements from the 30th Division? Lin Chengkun asked himself this question in his heart, he didn't speak in thought, and the large group of generals below didn't speak, all waiting for Lin Chengkun to make a decision!

Hold or retreat?

Xinhai Great Warlord 497_Xinhai Great Warlord_