While Chen Jingyun was in Shanghai, the fighting in Zhenjiang and Lishui did not calm down in the slightest, and on November 4, Cao Kun's 3rd Division, after resting for a long time, once again launched a large-scale attack on the defenders of the Nationalist Army in Zhenjiang.

After many wars, the Nationalist Army has generally become accustomed to the fierce offensive of the Beiyang Army, and has gradually found out some weaknesses of the Beiyang Army, of course, the more critical thing is that the Nationalist Army has carried out large-scale emergency supplies in the direction of Zhenjiang, and does not have a large number of military supplies such as bullets and shells, and the General Staff Department has also urgently sent more than 2,000 recruits to the Zhenjiang direction to supplement the previous combat losses of the First Division and the Fourth Division, so that the First Division cannot be replenished for the time being although its heavy weapons and equipment cannot be replenished, but it is good to say that the staffing has been restored, and the 11th regiment, which was disabled and suffered as many as half of the casualties, has also been initially restored.

In addition, the Fourth Division also urgently transferred troops from the rear to reinforce it, and by 4 November, the Fourth Division on the Zhenjiang front had the strength of two regiments and all artillery regiments, which basically included the main force of the Fourth Division.

After a large-scale replenishment, the two divisions of the Nationalist Army relied on the fortifications that had been built for many days to carry out defensive operations, and the results achieved were not small, so that Cao Kun's third division suffered heavy casualties in the large-scale attack, and after two days of continuous attack, Cao Kun could not stand it and ordered to stop the attack.

In just two days, although Cao Kun's Third Division occupied some positions, it brought nearly 1,000 casualties to the Third Division, and such huge casualties forced Cao Kun to re-examine his strategy.

The Beiyang Army and the Nationalist Army in these years are not the same, the first division of the Nationalist Army was beaten so badly before, the casualties since the start of the war are as high as more than 2,000 people, plus the casualties of the fourth division are more than 3,000 casualties, but within a few days, the Nationalist Army urgently transferred recruits from the recruit camps around the country to supplement the battle losses in Zhenjiang, and the senior generals above only need to worry about winning or losing, and do not have to worry about not being able to replenish the army and affect their own power.

But the Beiyang Army is different, although the Beiyang Army also has a strict system, but since Xinhai, each division commander has basically regarded the troops as private, and this recruit replenishment has to rely on themselves, and this army will not send you thousands of trained recruits after it is exhausted.

Under such circumstances, Cao Kun had to worry that if he fought too hard, the army would lose all his status and power, and it would become a problem.

"There are almost two thousand brothers left before and after, division commander, it's not a way to fight like this!" Tang Tianxi persuaded Cao Kun.

Cao Kun was also depressed, he was definitely unwilling to defeat the troops, but Feng Guozhang urged him to take Zhenjiang almost every day, and even Zhenjiang was delayed, and even Yuan Shikai personally sent him a telegram to ask about relevant matters.

The large-scale offensive of the previous two days was also produced against this backdrop of pressure.

But it can't be done if you don't fight, and it can't be if you hit too many casualties, so after thinking about it, Cao Kun just pulled down his face and asked Feng Guozhang for reinforcements.

"He wants reinforcements? I'll take it to him! Feng Guozhang was also angry, his pressure was greater than Cao Kun's, although he received a lot of praise when he took Nanjing before, but as time passed, Zhenjiang was delayed, and there was no breakthrough in the confrontation between Lishui and the National Army, which made him very difficult to deal with Yuan Shikai.

At the beginning, he promised to go to Hangzhou in a month, but now more than half a month has passed, and he can't even take Zhenjiang.

"This national army is indeed a little more difficult to bite, the third division fought so smoothly before, at least after eliminating three or four thousand people of the national army, this national army can still resist in Zhenjiang!" A Beiyang officer next to him also sighed: "The third division has launched continuous attacks, and the casualties are also very large, I am afraid that it will be difficult for them to take Zhenjiang alone!" ”

Feng Guozhang also understands the current situation, through the summary of various intelligence these days, he also analyzed how many national troops on the opposite side and the specific sequence, blocking the fifth division in the direction of Lishui is the second and seventh divisions of the national army, Ma Cheng of the second division is said to be Chen Jingyun's number one general in the early years, and Lin Zhaomin of the seventh division is not a simple person, and the Hangzhou war at the beginning of the year was presided over by this person. Now these two people have cooperated to block the Fifth Division, so that Jin Yunpeng's Fifth Division cannot move in Lishui, and can only fall into a long-term confrontation state.

The direction of Zhenjiang is not optimistic, although the first division of the national army over there was defeated by Cao Kun once, but from the follow-up battles, the first division of the national army did not completely lose its combat effectiveness, plus there is a fourth division of the national army, which still exceeds Cao Kun's third division in terms of strength. In addition, Feng Guozhang had learned that Chen Jingyun had removed the commander and deputy division commander of the former First Division of the National Army and transferred Shen Gang from Guangzhou.

Feng Guozhang specially investigated this Shen Gang, and studied Shen Gang's previous achievements in Hangzhou and Guangzhou, and finally concluded that this person likes to fight head-on, and is good at suddenly concentrating troops to break through a little, and the follow-up troops quickly advance to tear apart the opponent's defense line, thus causing the complete collapse of the opponent. The previous war in Hangzhou and the war in Guangzhou were all the same.

In all fairness, the current Beiyang Army is fighting quite well, with the strength of two divisions against the four divisions of the Nationalist Army, whether it is in the direction of Lishui or Zhenjiang, the Beiyang Army is a single division against the two divisions of the Nationalist Army, especially in the direction of Zhenjiang, before the addition of a third division of Jiangsu, basically these short-term Beiyang Army is to fight more with less, although the Beiyang Army casualties are not small, but the losses of the Nationalist Army are greater.

After thinking about the map, Feng Guozhang tried to find a breakthrough point, but after looking at it for a long time, he retracted his gaze, and finally said: "Send an order to Zhang Xun's department, let them go to Zhenjiang, and then join forces with the third division to conquer Zhenjiang as soon as possible!" ”

"As for Lishui's side, let's guard it first!" After Feng Guozhang said that, someone soon went to give the order.

Zhang Xun had just arrived in Nanjing, before he was on the opposite side of Zhenjiang, trying to cross the river directly with the support of Cao Kun's third division, but then let Sa Zhenbing's fleet shell once and then learn to behave, after leaving a regiment on the other side of Zhenjiang to pin down and defend the north bank, he took three regiments and the main force of the artillery regiment to directly detour through Nanjing, and then crossed the river. But as soon as he arrived in Nanjing, he didn't even see Feng Guozhang's face, so Feng Guozhang asked his troops to go directly to Zhenjiang, which made him a little angry and depressed.

"Ge Lao Tzu, what do you think of Lao Tzu! Depend on. If you don't see it, you don't see it Zhang Xun originally planned to meet Feng Guozhang and win over the relationship, but Feng Guozhang didn't plan to see him, and sent him directly to Zhenjiang.

Zhang Xun did not dare to disobey under the military order, and now Yuan Shikai is staring at the war on the Jinpu line every day, and he Zhang Xun does not have the courage to openly disobey the order, but well, this grinding is inevitable.

Feng Guozhang transferred Zhang Xun's Eighth Division to Zhenjiang to reinforce the Third Division, which had already been discovered by the aviation unit of the Nationalist Army as soon as it set off.

Since the plane first appeared over the battlefield, the current generals of the Beiyang Army have been surprised many times, anyway, the guy in the sky can only turn around slowly, there is no threat. However, the generals of the Beiyang Army are still very unaccustomed to their whereabouts being seen by the enemy, but they are not used to it and have no choice, in addition to reporting to the higher authorities and applying for planes, they can only march at night and lurk during the day. After Feng Guozhang reported to Yuan Shikai that the Nationalist Army had planes for reconnaissance, Yuan Shikai also sensed the reconnaissance advantages of the planes and urgently ordered a batch of planes from foreign countries, but this time it was estimated that it would take several months to go.

The current Beiyang Army has no choice but to use rifles to shoot, and later found that the rifles could not threaten the planes, so they simply ignored them.

However, it doesn't work, a reconnaissance plane from the Lishui base found a front-line artillery position of the Fifth Division of the Beiyang Army, and as soon as the reconnaissance plane returned to the base, it was reported to the artillery unit of the Nationalist Army, and then the artillery shells of the Nationalist Army fell on the front-line artillery positions of the Beiyang Army, and this artillery bombardment caused the Beiyang Army to lose three or four pieces of artillery. Later, the Beiyang Army also learned to be obedient, covered up the artillery positions, and tried not to fire artillery during the day to avoid being detected by aircraft.

Now that the Nationalist Army has an airplane for reconnaissance, the battlefield is one-way transparent to the Nationalist Army, and as soon as Zhang Xun's Eighth Division left Nanjing and headed for Zhenjiang, the plane's reconnaissance report has already been put on the desk of the commanders of various units of the Nationalist Army.

And it was soon reported to Chen Jingyun, and along with the report, there was also a battle plan formulated by Shen Gang, and after Chen Jingyun read the plan in detail, he tapped the table with his hand.

After a while, he said: "Let Shen Gang take a train or ship to Shanghai, I want to listen to him personally explain the plan this time!" ”

Shen Gang actually arrived in Zhenjiang not long ago, and when he got Chen Jingyun's order in Guangzhou, the whole person could be said to be extremely excited. At such an important juncture, Chen Jingyun wanted to transfer him Shen Gang to the north of southern Jiangsu, and the meaning of reuse was undoubtedly revealed, otherwise why didn't there be so many generals in the national army, so he let him Shen Gang, who was far away in Guangzhou, go to southern Jiangsu. On the day he got the order, he got on a high-speed passenger ship all the way to Shanghai, and on the way he began to study the war in southern Jiangsu.

Although he arrived in Zhenjiang not many days ago, the generals of the Nationalist Army have paid attention to the war in southern Jiangsu since it began, and he Shen Gang is no exception, and after receiving Chen Jingyun's order, he specially studied the war in southern Jiangsu and analyzed and studied the reasons for the defeat of the first division in Zhenjiang. After arriving in Zhenjiang, he had a detailed discussion with Xu Jingqing, Li Jimin and many other senior generals of the Nationalist Army in Zhenjiang, and it happened that Cao Kun launched a large-scale attack a few days ago, and Shen Gang commanded the troops to defend, but also had a more intuitive view of the Beiyang Army.

He knew very well that Chen Jingyun did not transfer him to Zhenjiang to play, but hoped that he could lead the national army out of the current predicament and make a breakthrough.

So after spending many days, he also formulated a relevant battle plan and reported it to Chen Jingyun for approval.

After Shen Gang, who was in Zhenjiang, learned that Chen Jingyun was going to see him in person, he arrived in Shanghai by military train on the same day and met Chen Jingyun at about nine o'clock in the evening.

"I've taken a rough look at your plan, although the feasibility is very high, but the risk is also not small, so I want to hear you say it in person!" Chen Jingyun took out Shen Gang's report from the table.