Almost instantly, the explosions on the positions of the Beiyang Army continued, and the smoke and dust raised by the explosion of the shells quickly filled the sky over the positions, and by the time the smoke and dust rose, the bomber groups of the aviation units had already finished throwing their bombs and left, while the naval guns of the navy and the artillery of the army continued to carry out artillery bombardment.

At this moment, in a basement in Taishan Town, relying on the sunlight shining in from a few small windows and several kerosene lamps in the house to keep the room from being dark, Feng Guozhang and several generals of the Beiyang Army in the house were discussing the war.

"Commander, there is a lot of pressure on the side of Liuxiang now, do you think you can retreat a little bit and defend with the 2nd Battalion of the 30th Regiment?" A Beiyang Army general suggested.

However, Feng Guozhang shook his head directly: "We can't lose it over there, if we lose it over there, the defense line in the southeast will be completely broken, how can we only defend this corner of Taishan Town when the time comes!" ”

"But the pressure over there is too great, and the casualties of that battalion are very large, and now there are only more than 300 people left to face the attack of nearly 1,000 enemy troops, how can this be stopped!" A colonel of the Beiyang Army next to him with an anxious face didn't seem to care about Feng Guozhang's majesty, and stood up directly and said loudly.

Feng Guozhang turned his head and glanced at him fiercely: "If you can't keep it, you have to keep it!" ”

Feng Guozhang looked at the group of generals who were not very good, and immediately said in a relaxed tone: "Don't worry, as long as we hold for two to three more days, Wang Ruxian will be able to come over and relieve the siege!" ”

At this time, the colonel who spoke just now said again: "Division Commander Wang's troops have arrived at Xijiazhuang the day before yesterday, but why haven't they arrived in Taishan Town for two days. As we all know, the national army on the Xie Jiazhuang side is just a regiment defense, could it be that the more than 10,000 troops of Division Commander Wang can't even take the Xie Jiazhuang side, and even if they can't take it, won't they go around it? ”

The meaning of these words is already obvious: Wang Ruxian is disgusted with fighters and sits back and watches the friendly forces fall into a desperate situation.

In the face of his words, Feng Guozhang also knew it, but even he couldn't do anything. His relationship with Wang Ruxian was not close, and the other party would definitely not risk his own supply lines and retreats to be exposed to the threat of enemy forces to make a detour to reinforce him. And if you attack Jiejiazhuang, I am afraid that you will not have to do your best not to be afraid of casualties, so that although the seventh division will arrive for reinforcements in the end, it will be much later in time. And Feng Guozhang can't afford to wait for this time.

With more than 5,000 remnants of the army, he Feng Guozhang has faced the tens of thousands of elite divisions of the Nationalist Army, and has been holding Nanjing for ten days. No one dares to say that he Feng Guozhang is incompetent. However, as time went by, the number of troops under his command increased from more than 5,000 to more than 3,000, and then to more than 2,000 now, which has reached the point where the oil is exhausted. How long can this continue to be held, and when Wang Ruxian's Seventh Division will reach his heart.

What he can do now is to continue to defend with his two thousand remnants, and then continue to send electricity to Yuan Shikai, and then let Yuan Shikai force Wang Ruxian to strengthen the attack.

"Commander, even if we are optimistic, our Taishan Town can only hold on for two or three days at most. But in these two or three days, can Commander Wang's Seventh Division arrive......

It's hard for anyone here to say this, and they don't dare to say it.

"Army commander, even if this Taishan town is lost, as long as we break through and finally contact the Seventh Division to counterattack Nanjing, we have been fighting hard for more than ten days, how can the enemy guard division with heavy casualties hold this Nanjing. As long as we take Nanjing back, the situation in southern Jiangsu will still be as stable as Mount Tai! The colonel's words clearly elicited a nod of approval from many of the generals.

Taishan Town has been fought to this point, it can be said that Feng Guozhang has overfulfilled his task, if it were not for Wang Ruxian's Seventh Division for so many days, this battle of Nanjing would be a completely different result now. However, now, Taishan Town is in a situation where it is bound to lose, so why throw the last two thousand remnants here in order to delay it for two or three more days.

Feng Guozhang was also thinking about it quickly at this time, although he also agreed with the words of his subordinates in his heart, but as the main general, he Feng Guozhang had the pride of his Feng Guozhang. Regardless of the original battle of Hubei or the current war in southern Jiangsu, he Feng Guozhang was defeated and fled in disgrace. He can't do such a thing, even if he is defeated, then he Feng Guozhang will have to die in this Taishan Town.

So he waved his hand: "There is no need to mention it at this time!" ”

As soon as his words fell, a series of explosions sounded outside, the war is no stranger to the sound of explosions, at first Feng Guozhang just thought it was sporadic shelling, but he soon found out that this was not a sporadic shelling, the dense explosion sound coupled with the huge explosion sound of large-caliber shells unique to the navy's large-caliber naval guns, Feng Guozhang soon realized that this shelling was unusual.

Sure enough, soon someone came in from outside: "The planes of the National Army are coming to bomb, and there is a massive shelling!" ”

Feng Guozhang and the others quickly went out, and then climbed a small high-rise building and looked into the distance with a telescope, at this time the Beiyang Army position continued to explode, in the face of this intensive artillery bombardment, Feng Guozhang quickly realized something: "Quickly get the troops ready, the Nationalist Army looks like it is going to launch a general attack!" ”

After saying that, Feng Guozhang cursed Wang Ruxian in his heart again: "When the war in Nanjing is over, if I, Feng Guozhang, don't get you down, I won't be surnamed Feng!" Fucking bastard! ”

Feng Guozhang resented Wang Ruxian, but what he didn't know was that now Wang Ruxian also had a big opinion of him Feng Guozhang: "Damn, even if you are under siege, you still let Lao Tzu kill and injure so many brothers to save you, and when I rescue you, I can't wait to dump you in the mouth, and let you be arrogant and defend Nanjing!" ”

Wang Ruxian is actually very depressed, although it will be a little grinding in Shandong and Chuzhou, but the purpose is for military expenses and ammunition supply, after all, if he wants to let tens of thousands of brothers go into battle to fight, he can't help but pay military pay and ammunition, and the military salary can still be endured, but if the ammunition is not replenished, will his brothers of the seventh division fight directly with bayonets. Therefore, after receiving military funds and supplies from the Ministry of War, he Wang Ruxian did not delay much, and directly led the army from Chuzhou to the south along the railway line.

However, when he arrived at the periphery of Nanjing, he was blocked in Jiejiazhuang. At first, Wang Ruxian didn't care, but after launching a few attacks, not only did he not take Jiejiazhuang, but the troops suffered heavy losses, especially at the beginning of the first few attacks, those officers who were low were a little careless and underestimated the enemy, plus the predecessor of the Seventh Division was the Zhili Mixed Association, which had not fought since its establishment, and after Xinhai, it underwent an emergency expansion, although the establishment was the same as other Beiyang regular divisions, but the weapons and equipment were much worse, Because they have no actual war experience, their actual combat effectiveness is far inferior to those veteran divisions before the Beiyang Army, and compared with Cao Kun's Third Division and Jin Yunpeng's Fifth Division, it is a big step behind, and even Zhang Xun's Eighth Division is inferior.

This combat effectiveness was originally slightly inferior, and the officers were in front of the enemy, thinking that a force of tens of thousands of people was only a regiment against the enemy, and then they remembered that the opposite side was not other warlord troops, but the number one ace guard division of the national army.

These factors combined led to the loss of a lot of people in the first two days of the Seventh Division, under Xie Jiazhuang, his Wang Ruxian's Seventh Division actually suffered nearly 800 casualties, how did this make Wang Ruxian not angry, and successively replaced two regiment commanders and several battalion commanders, since then Wang Ruxian was still angry, and directly sprinkled his anger directly on Feng Guozhang.

If it weren't for Feng Guozhang's failure in southern Jiangsu, which led to the siege of Nanjing, he Wang Ruxian would not have used Nanjing at all. If it weren't for Feng Guozhang being trapped in Taishan Town and continuing to ask for help, he Wang Ruxian would not have had to command the troops to forcibly attack Jiejiazhuang under Yuan Shikai's strict orders. If this time was not so urgent, his Wang Ruxian's seventh division would always be able to capture Jiejiazhuang slowly, and the casualties would not be so large.

Feng Guozhang sent telegrams asking for help every day, and Yuan Shikai sent seven or eight telegrams to Wang Ruxian in a row, asking him to quickly take Xie Jiazhuang in order to reinforce Feng Guozhang. If it weren't for Yuan Shikai's urgency, he, Wang Ruxian, would not have adopted the tactics of killing 100 enemies and losing 800 of himself.

Although he scolded in his heart, although he was extremely unhappy with Feng Guozhang in his heart, Wang Ruxian still continued to command the troops to launch an attack on Jiejiazhuang, he knew very well that if Feng Guozhang was defeated and killed in Nanjing, then as a reinforcement, he was very likely to be accused of being the culprit by Yuan Shikai, and the consequences would not be good.

"I still suffer the loss of a thousand people!" Wang Ruxian gritted his teeth and showed ruthlessness: "Pass my order, three hours later, the 25th Regiment and the 26th Regiment will attack again, and then the 27th Regiment will contain the attack from the west!" I don't believe I can't take this Jiejiazhuang! ”

The Battle of Nanjing has reached the final moment, at this time, both Chen Jingyun and Yuan Shikai in the north are closely concerned about the progress of the Battle of Nanjing, not only the parties on both sides, but even other warlord forces and even the powers of various countries are paying attention to every change in the war in southern Jiangsu.

At such a critical moment, Chen Jingyun attended a reception hosted by the US Consul General in Shanghai, 'Doll Qing,' in Shanghai, which was attended by diplomats from various countries in Shanghai, as well as some famous gentry in Shanghai and nearby, as well as a group of people from the Nationalist Army such as Chen Jingyun.

It can be seen from the composition of the participants that this is a standard diplomatic exchange reception, and the focus is not on the heart-to-heart exchanges between diplomats from various countries, but more importantly, Chen Jingyun's appearance. Strictly speaking, this is the first time that Chen Jingyun has openly participated in similar diplomatic occasions since arriving in Hangzhou and Shanghai.

And today's occasion is not accidental, let alone everyone's whim wanting to meet and drink or something, but after a long period of preparation, to a certain extent, this is a cocktail party specially prepared for Chen Jingyun. And the purpose of this kind of reception is simple, that is, the great powers have taken note of Chen Jingyun, who occupies southeastern China, and according to Chen Jingyun's influence on the situation in China today, it is necessary to clarify some of his foreign policies.

This is a cocktail party that allows Chen Jingyun to truly go to the world!