Chapter 331 Li Yuanhong's Response

Wang Shizhen suddenly announced her support for the northern republican government, which naturally caused great changes to the domestic situation. First of all, Hubei, the source of the incident, almost hours after Wang Shizhen released the telegram, the troops of the Southern Federation reacted quickly, located on the front line of Xiaogan, in the north of Hanyang and Hankou. Yuanhong's headquarters, that is, the Fourth Army of the Northern Expedition of the Southern Federation, quickly reduced its troops. It not only completely stopped sending troops to control the surrounding prefectures and counties, but also urgently transferred a town south to Hanyang to the north!

Why?

Because once Wang Shizhen reaches some kind of agreement with Zhao Dongyun, whether it is a temporary armistice agreement or a real alliance agreement, it represents the same thing, that is, more than 20,000 main troops stationed at Wushengguan under Wang Shizhen will be freed up, and then go south to rescue the front line of Hanyang and Hankou.

And Xiaogan is located in the north of Hanyang, which is the only way for Wang Shizhen's rescue force to go south. If the Southern Federation still wants to conquer Hanyang and annihilate Wang Shizhen's nearly 30,000 main forces in the area, then it needs to stop Wang Shizhen's rescue force here.

However, is it so easy to stop? Although the Fourth Army under Li Yuanhong's Northern Expedition has jurisdiction over the second town, the eighth town and the ninth town, with a total strength of more than 40,000 people, the combat effectiveness of the Southern Federal Army has always been poor, and in these three towns, there is actually only one second town that can barely compete with the Beiyang army. The combat effectiveness of the other two towns is really worrying.

Among the three towns under the jurisdiction of the Fourth Northern Expedition Army, the predecessor of the second town was the 21st Mixed Association of the former Qing Army. Last year, the Southern Federation established the Northern Expedition Army and was awarded the second town after re-unified the number. The department was severely damaged by Wang Shizhen in a series of battles such as Henan and Hankou, but the backbone was preserved It is relatively complete, so it is also a recovery after half a year.

The eighth town and ninth towns are not the eighth and ninth towns of the former Qingxin Army, but the newly formed troops. The eighth town was formerly known as the Sichuan New Army, and the ninth town is the newly recruited troops from Hunan.

The number of troops of the Southern Federation has been extremely chaotic since last year. The town number has gone from Part I to 49, and even the Southern Federation itself does not know how many of the mixed associations there are. Some of these troops are the former Qing army, some of the old army of the former Qing Dynasty, and some even the landlord armed forces, civil regiments, etc. Wait, anyway, that's a mess.

In addition, the troops of the Southern Federation have suffered continuous fiasco, and many troops have been annihilated or severely damaged by Beiyang, and some of these units that have been annihilated or severely damaged have retained their numbers, while some have organized the remnants into new units, such as the third town under the command of Duanfang, whose predecessor is the ninth town of the former Qingxin Army, in Jiangsu In a series of battles with Duan Qirui, the department was severely damaged many times in a row. When it retreated to Jiangxi, there were only less than 2,000 people left. This remnants were then reorganized into the 16th town with the remnants of the 12th town (formerly known as the 23rd Mixed Association of Jiangsu of the former Qing Dynasty Army), and the fourth and 12th towns became history.

There are also the fifth town under Xiliang's command (formerly known as Jiangbei Mixed Association), the sixth town (formerly known as Jiangnan Mixed Association), the 13th town under Duanfang's command (formerly known as Anhui 31st Mixed Association), and the 21st town under Zhang Zhidong's command (Hunan's newly recruited troops, sent to Jiangxi to fight by Duan Qirui's Anhui The army was annihilated), the 20th town under the command of Enshou (formerly Shanxi New Army).

Although the Southern Federation has always wanted to eliminate the number of troops, the actual situation has never been able to do it!

Therefore, the numbers of the Southern Federal Army are a little messy. Not to mention that the intelligence offices under Zhao Dongyun, including Zhao Dongyun, among the Northern Warlords, can't figure out the detailed numbers of the Southern Federal Forces. Even Zhang Zhidong and Duan Fang themselves can't figure out the messy numbers of the subordinate forces.

In a word, the number of troops is getting bigger and bigger. Last year, there were only more than 30 towns, and by this year, 49, but only 20 towns can be counted as large-scale troops. Well, this also includes those towns with only a few thousand people.

Relatively speaking, the establishment of several regular armies in the Southern Federation is more formal, including Zhang Biao's Department of the First Army of the Northern Expedition deployed in Hubei, which has three towns under its jurisdiction: the first town (formerly the eighth town of the former Qingxin Army), the third town (formerly known as the 25th Mixed Association of Hunan), and the seventh town (the new headquarters of Hubei). Team); Li Yuanhong's headquarters of the Fourth Army of the Northern Expedition, with jurisdiction over the second town (formerly known as the 21st Mixed Association of Hubei in the former Qing Dynasty), the eighth town (former Sichuan New Army), the ninth town (new troops from Hunan); Shuqing Abu of the Fifth Army of the Northern Expedition, with jurisdiction over the 14th town (former Guizhou New Army) and the fifteenth town (the 37th mixed army of the former Qing Yunnan New Army in the Qing Dynasty). Chengxie), the 18th town (former Qing Guangxi New Army).

In addition, there is the end of the Third Army deployed in Jiangxi. Although the troops under the jurisdiction of the Third Northern Expedition are often severely damaged or annihilated, they are still relatively formal. Now there are 11th Town (from the reorganization of the remnants of the Jiangnan Mixed Association), 16th Town (the ninth town of the Qing Army and the 23rd mixed army in Jiangsu). The remnants of the Cheng Association were reorganized), the 17th town (formerly known as the 27th Mixed Association of Jiangxi, and later incorporated into the 31st Mixed Association of Anhui), and the 38th town (Guangdong's new army).

Then there is the Xiliang Department of the Second Northern Expedition Army deployed in southern Fujian, which now retains the 10th town (the former Fujian 10th town of the Qing Army was expanded) and the 46th town (the former Qingjiang North Mixed Association and the Jiangnan Mixed Association were integrated).

Then there is also the Shaanxi-Gansu Army under Zhao Erxun, which has jurisdiction over the 19th town and the 26th town. Among them, the 26th town is reorganization of the remnants of the Shaanxi-Gan New Army and the remnants of the Shanxi New Army. The combat effectiveness is very average, but the 19th town is worth mentioning.

This 19th town has been in the limelight in the past six months. The department is newly compiled by Zhao Erxun, who has spent a lot of manpower and material resources, and the equipment level is not bad. More importantly, the town is seriously overstaffed, with a total strength of nearly 30,000. Although it is a town, it actually has three infantry associations and one cavalry association. And an artillery symbol, the department is still fighting in the troops of Shanxi and Wu Fengling.

To be honest, the combat effectiveness of the department is the top among the hundreds of thousands of troops of the Southern Union, otherwise it will block Wu Fengling's attack with less than 30,000 troops.

The above five Northern Expeditionary Army and the southern federal towns in the Shaanxi-Ganxi Army are relatively clear and well-organizing, and are also the main combat forces of the Southern Federation today.

In addition, there are also a wide range of chaotic local troops in the southern provinces. Although these troops also have the numbers of a certain town and a certain mixed association, in fact, they are all old troops or newly recruited soon or simply the landlord armed forces and civil regiments, which are not regular troops.

After understanding the armies and towns of the Southern Federation, you will find that although the Fourth Army of the Northern Expedition under Li Yuanhong is known as an army with three towns under its jurisdiction, it can actually fight only a second town.

Relying on whether the second town can stop the troops of more than 20,000 Wang Shizhen who went south from Wushengguan to rescue, Li Yuanhong himself is not sure. Although the number of his troops is more than the Beiyang army, in the past, in a series of battles between the Northern Republican Government and the Southern Federation, the Beiyang Army has basically fought less and more, and They can still win.

If you fight too much, it will naturally beat down the morale of the generals of the Southern Federation. Without three or five times the number of troops, not to mention the attack, even the defense is enough.

In order to prepare for the Hubei reinforcements south of Wushengguan, Li Yuanhong began to shrink his strength and concentrate on Xiaogan to prepare for a defensive battle. The attack of the Fourth Army of Li Yuanhong's Northern Expedition was missing. Although there were attacks launched by the First Northern Expedition Army and other southern federal forces on the front, the Hubei army on the front line of Hankou and Hanyang was suppressed. The power has also been reduced a lot.

As long as Wang Shizhen can stick to the front line in Hankou and Hanyang, it is a question of how the subsequent Hubei war will change. It is estimated that even Li Yuanhong's Fourth Army of the Northern Expedition will be compensated.

For the war in Hubei, many intelligence officials of the Intelligence Department have been paying close attention to it. When Li Yuanhong began to shrink his troops, he also reported to Beijing in time.

After reading the report, Zhao Dongyun in Jurentang said: "This Hubei is stable for the time being, as long as we gather nearly 30,000 troops from Wushengguan. Wang Shizhen has great hope of defending Hanyang. Even if he can't defend Hanyang and Hankou, the whole army will not be destroyed!"

However, Zhao Dongyun has never liked to pin his hopes on others, especially Wang Shizhen, so he still ordered Fang Biyong: "The Third Army in Henan should be prepared for battle in case of accidents!"

Although he expected that Wang Shizhen could resist the attack of the Southern Federation, he was not afraid of 10,000 in case. If Wang Shizhen was really so unlucky that he could not stop it, then he would have the Third Army in Henan to quickly go south to seize Wusheng Pass. As long as Wu Shengguan was controlled, even if the Third Army would have fewer troops, but It should not be a problem to block the northward offensive of the Southern Federation.

No matter what, Zhao Dongyun will not let the war spread to Henan!

"After the Third Army was reinforced by the Eighth Division, the number of troops in Henan has reached nearly 50,000. Although it is facing the danger of many fronts and the lack of heavy weapons, in case the situation changes, it is still not a big problem to seize a Wusheng Pass and defend it!" Fangbi is always like this.

Henan has been the place of the Fourth World War since ancient times. Northern Jiangsu is in the northeast, Anhui in the east, Shanxi in the northwest, Shaanxi in the west, and Hubei in the south. And there are enemies of the Feng army in the above direction.

Needless to say, there are 70,000 to 80,000 Anhui troops and the same number of Feng troops fighting a life-and-death battle in northern Jiangsu. In the east, there is Zhang Huaizhi and Wang Zhanyuan in Anhui, Wang Zhanyuan in the south, Wang Shizhen in Hubei and Zhang Zhidong in the south. Zhao Erxun is Shaanxi in the west, and the 19th town of Wu Fengling and Zhao Erxun in the northwest is still fighting in the south of Shanxi.

So, there is no war with the Feng army in Henan, but in fact, the strategic pressure is extremely heavy.

Even if the Eighth Division is reinforced, the Third Army in Henan is still in a serious shortage of strength. The troops should be stationed in Xinyang, east and Anhui, and then the west of Luoyang in the west, and even the northwest near Shanxi should be stationed. So many places need to be stationed. As a result, the deployment of the Third Army in Henan is extremely scattered and not enough everywhere.

Fortunately, the Third Army in Henan is only based on strategic defense. In addition, although there are many enemies around, at present, no one is willing to take great risks to enter Henan and fight with the Feng army.

To be honest, if the Anhui army, the Southern Federation and so on mobilized the main force to enter Henan to play a decisive battle with the Feng army, then Zhao Dongyun can wake up with a dream. Why?

Two words: railway!

The existence of Beijing-Feng Railway and Jinghan Railway has led to the mobilization of Feng's military strength on the Jinghan Line. Logistics supplies are extremely convenient, but not as troublesome as in northern Jiangsu.

But no one is so stupid. They are all coveted, but they are all unwilling to enter Henan and fight a large-scale decisive battle with the Feng army!

After the strategic situation in Hubei and Henan stabilized slightly, Zhao Dongyun and other Soviet military and political officials continued to focus on northern Jiangsu. Although Zhao Dongyun and others were very concerned about the development of the situation in Hubei before, the fundamental purpose of paying attention to the situation in Hubei was to ensure the smooth progress of the war in northern Jiangsu. .

The war that broke out in northern Jiangsu is the key to the survival of the Soviet system, and other directions are only secondary!