Chapter 271 Southern Bazhou

Bao Guiqing's dedication to the army and the reconstruction of the first mixed brigade has little impact on the direct combat at this moment, because although the reconstruction of the first mixed brigade is based on thousands of captured soldiers, it still needs to transfer a large number of officers, supplement a large number of heavy weapons, and require adaptive training. It is almost impossible for the mixed brigade to recover to its previous combat effectiveness. Even if everything goes well, it will take a month or two for Bao Guiqing's first mixed brigade to re-enter the war.

Bao Guiqing's sincerity is of far more political than military significance, which can be said to have greatly undermined the morale of the direct army and the confidence of the senior generals of the direct army.

This can be seen from Wang Yingkai's anger after learning the news!

When Zhao Dongyun used Bao Guiqing to buy horse bones and showed that he had the belly of the prime minister and could not tolerate ordinary people, the war between the two armies also broke out again on a large scale in early July.

In addition to the 9th Division, together with the 4th Mixed Brigade and the 5th Mixed Brigade, continue to launch a slow attack on the Beijing Division, the focus of the two armies has turned to the 7th Division of Wang Zhanyuan.

On July 3, the forward cavalry regiment of the 3rd Division and the cavalry force of Wang Zhanyuan's 7th Division carried out the first foundation, and the cavalry of the two sides launched the first large-scale cavalry engagement between the two armies.

Whether it is last year's entry battle or this year's entry battle, although the Feng army has many cavalry troops participating in the war, and the direct army's cavalry troops are not small, but most of the time the cavalry on both sides are either used for reconnaissance or as dismounting infantry. Except for detecting small-scale fighting between cavalry, there is no There has been a large-scale battle between cavalry.

However, on July 3, in the Yongqing area, the cavalry regiment of the 3rd Division had contact with the cavalry regiment of the 7th Division. At that time, the cavalry regiment of the 3rd Division was carrying out a forward reconnaissance mission, while the cavalry regiment of the 7th Division was ordered to go along the Beijing-Feng Railway to attack the dense supply line of the Feng army on the line.

The main force of the Feng army gathered along the railway from Beijing to Tianjin. It is because he can use the Beijing-Feng Railway to get close to supplies. Wang Zhanyuan also saw this. It is naturally inappropriate to send infantry to directly capture and cut off the railway line. If it is not, it is estimated that it will be surrounded by the Feng army, but cavalry will be sent. It's different to go.

One of the main tasks of contemporary cavalry is to attack the enemy's supply line!

On that day, after a total of more than 1,000 cavalry from both sides came into contact in Yongqing, due to the large number of enemies and us, Colonel Wang Quanyun of the cavalry regiment of the Third Division decisively ordered the cavalry to dismount, and then set up four heavy machine guns and two 60mm mortars carried by the army.

The tradition of Feng's cavalry troops equipped with mortars and heavy machine guns began in the third town era. Meng Enyuan, the cavalry boss in the Feng army system, tried to be equipped with heavy machine guns and mortars in the cavalry standard. Later, the Feng army cavalry was changed to Dalian small regiment system, and a large number of cavalry was transferred to form the first cavalry brigade and the second cavalry. At the time of the brigade, although the division cavalry regiment was reduced to 600 horses, the equipment of heavy machine guns and mortars was retained. According to the current formation, this division cavalry regiment was equipped with four heavy machine guns and two 60mm mortars.

The two cavalry brigades fighting independently are equipped with more heavy weapons. In addition to heavy machine guns and 60mm mortars, the two cavalry brigades are also equipped with 80mm mortars. If the artillery is not too heavy, Meng Enyuan and other cavalry generals want to equip the cavalry. The barrel cannon.

The Third Cavalry Regiment dismount and set up a machine gun and mortar to play a step-by-step battle. Naturally, the Seventh Cavalry Regiment under Wang Zhanyuan's command will naturally not foolishly ride a horse to charge, but also quickly dismount and then play a step-by-by-step battle.

So the two cavalry troops, like those infantry, dug trenches on the spot and then played with rifles to shoot!

However, this situation did not last long, and the second battalion of the 11th Regiment of the 3rd Division, which received the news not far away, quickly arrived.

Although the 7th Cavalry Regiment is not small, it still lacks a little to fight with the infantry battalion, so it simply turned around and retreated. They are cavalry, but they can't run fast. The 3rd Cavalry Regiment can only watch the 7th Cavalry Regiment retreat because of its small strength.

However, although this contact battle between the two sides with only dozens of people killed and injured seemed nothing, it failed the tactical purpose of the Seventh Cavalry Regiment to attack the Beijing-Feng Railway Line.

Since the cavalry forces of the two sides contacted, both Wang Zhanyuan and Chen Guangyuan of the Third Division have known that the enemy is not far away from him.

Because both sides knew that the enemy on the opposite side was not a simple commodity, their every move was very conservative. Wang Zhanyuan did not go north on a large scale regardless of the physical strength and formation of the soldiers as before, but stepped forward to avoid being ambushed by the Feng army.

Chen Guangyuan of the Third Division did not dare to launch a large-scale attack blindly, but maintained contact with the 7th Division, on the other hand, waiting for the reinforcements of the 10th Division.

"Now the situation is obvious. According to the information learned by our reconnaissance cavalry division, the main force of the 7th Division should be in the Bazhou area!" Yang Deming took the command list and instructed to continue moving on the map: "And the third division of our army has now been stationed in Yongqing, and the tenth division is in the Liuquan area. As long as the two divisions cooperate properly, Wang Zhanyuan's 7th division will never break through our army's blockade and go north to the capital!"

Zhao Dongyun said, "It's still far from enough to stop them. We must defeat this seventh division, and then we can quickly go south to Nanzhili and Shandong, and we can also use the main force to completely solve Wang Yingkai of Beijing!"

In the temporary headquarters of Langfang, Zhao Dongyun once again discussed the military situation with Yang Deming. Since Zhao Dongyun entered the customs, his headquarters has moved several times and moved forward with the troops, first in Shanhaiguan, and then in Tangshan. A few days ago, he set up the headquarters in Langfang and commanded the troops besieging the Beijing Division nearby. Intercept Wang Zhanyuan's troops.

"Many colleagues in the combat department believe that we should follow the example of the Tangshan Campaign and defend before attacking!" Yang Deming said, "As we all know, our army's defensive ability is outstanding. If we can build a solid defense line on the front line of Liuquan and Yongqing for a while, after the defense force drags down the 7th Division, we can attack from other directions and annihilate the department in one fell swoop!" Yang Demingdao.

However, Zhao Dongyun shook his head: "This move can deal with Lu Yongxiang, but not Wang Zhanyuan!"

"Wang Zichun has served in my Fengjun for many years, not to mention knowing my Fengjun, but everyone who should know knows very well what we are good at and what our shortcomings are!" Zhao Dongyun said, "Our army has strongly advocated a roundabout attack in the past two years, and his prince Chun is clear!"

Wang Zhanyuan has served in the Feng army for many years. Although most of the time he was overshadowed by Zhao Dongyun in front of the nominal Fifth Association, Wang Zhanyuan still participated in the construction and expansion of the Feng army from the beginning. Lu Yongxiang may not know the role of 60mm mortars and 120 mm mortars, but Wang Zhanyuan is the best Yes, I know.

For such an opponent who knows his strengths and weaknesses, Zhao Dongyun knows that Wang Zhanyuan is more difficult to deal with than Lu Yongxiang.

If the Feng army builds a defense line on the front line between Yongqing and Liuquan, Wang Zhanyuan will never be stupid enough to hit it directly. The biggest possibility is to make a direct detour to the north in other directions. The North China Plain is so large that it is impossible for Zhao Dongyun's Feng army to block every place.

"If the order goes on, let the Third Division continue to go south to Bazhou, but also let Chen Guangyuan grasp the square inch and don't rush to launch a large-scale attack!" Zhao Dongyun said again, "Let Xu Bangjie's 10th Division continue to go south, and let him think about the west to avoid letting Wang Zhanyuan's troops make a detour to the west."

Zhao Dongyun wants to drag Wang Zhanyuan's 7th Division in Bazhou. Regardless of whether he can annihilate this 7th Division, at least he must first block the northward pace of the 7th Division, mainly dragging this 7th Division in Bazhou to prevent him from going north. Then Wang Yingkai's idea of meeting the 7th Division and the remnants of the Beijing Division will fail. At that time I will be able to calmly deploy troops and deploy tactics to destroy the seventh division.

Zhao Dongyun's order is the highest criterion for Fengjun's action. After receiving the order written by Zhao Dongyun from the command, Chen Guangyuan did not hesitate to order the whole army of the Third Division to continue south.

Chen Guangyuan does not want Zhao Dongyun to think that he is a disobeyor. In recent years, with Zhao Dongyun's increasing power and greater control over the Feng army, many of the senior generals below also feel great pressure.

The division-level senior generals of the Feng army are far less powerful than the division-level generals of other warlord forces. They are also division commanders, but the division commanders of the Feng army are completely different from those in other warlord forces.

For example, Wu Fengling is the division commander of the Second Division, but he is in the palm of Shanxi. Zhang Huaizhi is also the commander of the Fifth Division. He is the governor of Anhui, even Lu Yongxiang and Wang Zhanyuan, who have great political influence. However, although there are many troops commanded by the senior generals in the Feng army, their political influence is quite low. People say that the Feng army only knows Zhao Dongyun, but do not know Meng Enyuan and Chen Guangyuan.

This is the same as when people talked about the Beiyang Standing Army. People only know Yuan Shikai but not Zhao Dongyun and Duan Qirui. When the political influence of the boss is too big enough to respond to the national situation first, it will cause this result.

Especially after this year, if the division commanders of other warlords are a combination of military generals and politicians, then generals under the military system, especially senior generals, are very simple military generals with very little political influence.

Coupled with the independence of recruitment and military expenditure, it also led to the fact that the senior generals of the Soviet army could rarely be independent. At the beginning, Meng Enyuan sat in Shanhaiguan for more than half a year and led tens of thousands of troops. If this had been in other warlord systems, Meng Enyuan would have long claimed to be one department and became a boss. But what about the actual situation?

Every time Zhao Dongyun sent a telegram and an edict, Meng Enyuan often did not dare to delay for a day, but quickly rushed back to Shenyang to listen to the instructions. It was the same as when Yuan Shikai wanted to see Zhao Dongyun, Zhao Dongyun immediately had to rush from Jinzhou to Baoding.

In addition to this realistic pressure, Zhao Dongyun also said at the military conference in Langfang that this army must continue to expand, and it is inevitable to fight south in the future, and he has now considered the choice of commanders for the subsequent army to fight south.