Chapter 346 Jiangbei's overall situation 1

Wang Zhanyuan once again fled under the eyes of the Feng army, and fled more simply than the previous two times. Before several troops of the Feng army entered Yingzhou, when the Soviet Qu Quanqing was still pulling over the 7th Division, he decided to escape secretly.

This made Qu Quanqing, who wanted to rave over Wang Zhanyuan to establish meritorious deeds, be furious. You should know that it is not easy to work in the second subject of internal affairs. Although he is already a third-class secretary, his power level is not weaker than that of ordinary local magistties. However, since he is in the central government and also in the core department of the second division of internal affairs of the Secretariat, he wants to continue to take a step forward in the second division of internal affairs. If he can be promoted to second-class secretary, there will be a great opportunity to smoothly transition to the position of a director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

As for the first-class secretaries, this is not something that ordinary people can expect. Now the four first-class secretaries in the secretariat are all veteran staff who have followed Zhao Dongyun for many years. They are not only well-qualified but also important assistants for Zhao Dongyun in handling military and political affairs. Their status is not the status of other Soviet officials. It is easy to replace.

Originally, he thought that Yingzhou and his party could convince Wang Zhanyuan and then add a strong stroke to his resume, but he did not expect that Wang Zhanyuan was more cautious or timid than he thought.

Although the position of governor of Jiangxi will conflict with Duan Qirui, if Wang Zhanyuan really agrees to this condition, based on the subsequent battle between Wang Zhanyuan and Duan Qirui for Jiangxi, then Zhao Dongyun behind will not sit idly and directly send troops to reinforce, but it will more or less support some ordnance ammunition. .

Today, more than a year after the war broke out in China, it is not so easy to obtain a large number of affordable ordnance. Before the four major warlords in Beiyang rose up last year, there were dozens of large and small arsenals in China, but most of them can be directly ignored. It is worth mentioning only Fu. There are only three factories, such as Yuan Machine Factory, Hubei Arsenal (Hanyang Arsenal) and Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau.

Needless to say, the Hubei Arsenal in the other three families has been destroyed in the war between Wang Shizhen and Zhang Zhidong this year. Although there are still many machines left, it is impossible to resume production without 35 million investment.

Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau also began to manufacture Type 88 rifles a few years ago. Last year, it began to produce a small amount of German tube retreat field guns. It is the first arsenal in China that can produce 75mm tube retreat field guns. Fuyuan Machine Factory can only be regarded as the second, but the output is extremely low, and Fuyuan machine The factory cannot be compared.

After Duan Qirui captured Shanghai this year, the factory unexpectedly fell into the hands of Duan Qirui, and there was not much loss. The ordnance produced by the factory in the past six months is one of the main sources of ordnance for the Anhui army.

The above three arsenals have the same characteristics, that is, the comprehensive arsenal has the ability to mass-produce Type 88 rifles, smokeless gunpowder, artillery and various shells.

Although there are still many other arsenals in China, most of them have little impact. For example, although the two factories of Guangdong Manufacturing Bureau and Sichuan Manufacturing Bureau have also purchased new machines to start trial production of Type 88 rifles, the output is very low, but the daily output is only 120, and the daily output is increased. It is not enough for the daily output of the Type 88 rifle of Fuyuan Machinery Factory.

The rest of Yunnan Manufacturing Bureau, Fujian Manufacturing Bureau, Jiangxi Manufacturing Bureau, etc. have tried a small number of imitations, but no mass production has been formed.

Looking at the domestic military industry, you will find that in addition to the Feng army, other warlord troops, even the Anhui army, are forced to import a large number of weapons such as rifles. The continuation of the civil war and the destruction of the Hanyang factory have further caused the production of domestic self-produced ordnance. When the number of imports increases, it will also cause higher and higher prices. It is rude to say that since the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, the price of arms in the Far East has become the highest price in the world. As for attracting arms merchants from countless countries to seek opportunities to make a fortune.

However, although imported ordnance can be bought with money, the key is that it is expensive. If you want to buy cheap ordnance, you can only buy domestic goods, but now those arsenals in China are controlled by major warlords, and they will not sell them to him at all.

In order to get the support of Zhao Dongyun, Wang Shizhen of Hubei put down her arrogant head and announced her allegiance to Zhao Dongyun, so that she could buy part of the ordnance from the Fuyuan Machinery Factory under Zhao Dongyun's control.

If Wang Zhanyuan defected to Zhao Dongyun, even if it was only nominally, he could take this opportunity to buy a certain amount of cheap arms from Zhao Dongyun.

However, this condition is too unworthful in Wang Zhanyuan's eyes.

In order to save hundreds of thousands of taels of silver, he publicly declared his allegiance to the central government, and then publicly turned against Duan Qirui, which is too bad.

So even if he escapes to the south, he will still enter southern Anhui or even Jiangxi, and inevitably occupy part of Duan Qirui's territory. However, as long as Wang Zhanyuan does not raise the central flag, Duan Qirui can only turn a blind eye to Wang Zhanyuan's cross-border behavior at the critical moment of the two armies. Otherwise, forcing Wang Zhanyuan directly to Zhao Dongyun will not do any good for him.

So it's also a different thing to go to southern Anhui and Jiangxi, but holding the central flag to sneak away with yourself.

Under such consideration, Wang Zhanyuan did not hesitate to refuse Zhao Dongyun's solicitation, but had no desire to resist. Instead, he fled directly to the south and gave up Yingzhou and other areas that had occupied for several months.

Without fighting, he gave up his territory, and he left so simply. Before leaving, he did not forget to blackmail Yingzhou and other local gentry. It is rumored that he had raided at least millions of finances a few days before leaving, which even Zhao Dongyun admired.

What is a qualified warlord?

Wang Zhanyuan is a qualified warlord. He knows the importance of preserving strength and knows how to survive in the cracks between the two armies of Feng and Anhui, and then he does not forget to expand his strength step by step. He spares no effort to search for money.

This person can escape from Zhili Bazhou all the way to Henan, and then Anhui, and now he runs to southern Anhui with a whip. Instead of less and fewer, the seventh division has more and more troops and better equipment. It can be seen that this person is really difficult to deal with.

Among the many warlords in China, Wang Zhanyuan, who has only risen for a few months, is much better than Zhang Huaizhi and Wang Ruxian, and even to some extent, much stronger than Wang Shizhen and Wu Fengling.

Look, Wu Fengling, sitting in a Shanxi, can still get Soviet ordnance and some financial support behind him, and there is no multi-line combat worries. He only needs to focus on dealing with Zhao Erxun, but more than half a year has passed, and now even the whole Shanxi can't control it. , still fighting in the 19th town of Zhao Erxun in southwest Shanxi.

Looking at Wang Shizhen, although the place to go south is very beautiful, it is also an elm head next. He only knows how to stare at the three towns of Wuhan. If it were Wang Zhanyuan, he would have bypassed the turtle shell of the three towns of Wuhan, and then cross the Yangtze River from behind to Wuchang. No matter how bad it is, he will enter Hunan. As for Zhang Zhidong, you can How can you stay in the three towns of Wuhan?

However, Wang Zhanyuan's rise was too short. Previously, he was only a member of the direct army. After Wang Yingkai went down, he became truly independent. This can maintain the 7th Division and make the 7th Division stronger and stronger. This ability is really not available to ordinary warlords.

Wang Zhanyuan slipped away from central Anhui like a loach, leaving a large and empty central and western region of Anhui!

In the face of Wang Zhanyuan's initiative to retreat, Feng Jun did not say that he would not let others escape and play a hundred miles of pursuit. After all, the main enemy of the Feng army is still the Anhui army. Since Wang Zhanyuan took the initiative to give up the large territory of western Anhui and eastern Henan, Zhao Dongyun has no intention to fight with Wang Zhanyuan. After working hard, it is true to quickly transfer the troops originally used in the direction of Yingzhou to go south to Fengyang.

Wang Zhanyuan originally occupied a small territory in Henan and Anhui. He occupied several counties in the southeast of Chenzhou in the east of Henan and several counties in the east of Gwangju in Henan, followed by the whole territory of Yingzhou Prefecture in Anhui, and part of Fengyang Prefecture and Liuhe Prefecture in Anhui, which roughly span the border areas of Henan and Anhui.

Wang Zhanyuan patted his buttocks and left, leaving not only a lot of mess, but also forming a power vacuum in the area. In order to recover the area as soon as possible, the Third Army of the Feng army marched east from Henan, and the first army marched to Yingzhou in order to control this area in the shortest time.

However, there are only a small number of troops to receive the territory. The main force, especially the main force of the First Army, has begun to be transferred to Mengcheng and Bengbu, ready to conquer these two areas and completely lay the victory in Jiangbei.

Although Wang Zhanyuan escaped, the main force of the Feng army gradually went south, and Duan Qirui, located in Bengbu, Fengyang, was in a bad mood again!

"How is the third division? When will the Fujian First Brigade reinforce Zhenjiang? Duan Qirui frowned and asked.

The adjutant next to him knew that Duan Qirui was in a bad mood now. When he learned that Wang Zhanyuan had retreated to southern Anhui last night, Duan Qirui was furious and immediately said carefully: "The third division of Liangjiang has arrived in Jinling yesterday. At present, it has built a defense line on the north bank and is ready to take over the second mixed brigade in Zhejiang in the direction of Taizhou and Yangzhou. .

Fujian's first brigade is expected to arrive in Zhenjiang tomorrow!"

When he said this, he said, "Now the situation is tense, general, shall we transfer the second mixed brigade back?"

The second mixed brigade does not mean the second mixed brigade of the Liangjiang Army, nor the second mixed brigade of Zhejiang. In the Anhui Army, the second mixed brigade generally refers specifically to the second mixed brigade of the Central Army. Its predecessor was Qirui's three infantry battalions of the 4th Division as the backbone during the Beiyang uprising last year, plus the recruitment of troops. Last year, when the Tianjin Agreement determined the number of several major warlord troops in Beiyang, this force composed of the backbone of the old Beiyang troops was awarded the number of the second mixed brigade of the Central Army, which was the same as the first mixed brigade of the direct line, the fourth mixed brigade, the fifth mixed brigade and the third mixed brigade under Wang Shizhen of the Soviet Feng army. The earliest mixed brigades in the hands of the major foreign warlords, like those central divisions, are the main forces of the major warlords, and their combat effectiveness is unmatched by those newly formed provincial armies.

In the early battle, the fourth division fought in Jiangxi with the second mixed brigade. After the Feng army entered the customs, Duan Qirui led the fourth division north to northern Jiangsu, while the second mixed brigade continued to fight in Jiangxi, which was the absolute main force of the Anhui army in the direction of Jiangxi and carried out several games with the Southern Federation. In the battle, they all made great military achievements and made great contributions to opening the door of Guangdong.

After the Anhui army captured Ganzhou, the soldiers pointed straight to Guangdong, and the 6th Division of the Liangjiang Army had taken the lead in entering the northern region of Guangdong. At this time, it can be said that Guangdong was already readily available, and Duan Qirui would definitely not easily transfer the second mixed brigade to return to the north.

To be rude, even if the whole Jiangbei and even Jiangnan have been lost, as long as Duan Qirui can take Guangdong, the loss will be barely acceptable. At that time, he will continue to spend time in Jiangxi and Zhejiang.

If the second mixed brigade is transferred to the north now, it is still unknown whether the second mixed brigade can annihilate the remnants of Duanfang in Guangdong and Xiliang in southern Fujian. Besides, the northern part of Guangdong is far away from Fengyang Road in Anhui Province, and there is no train for fast transportation. When the second mixed brigade arrives in Bengbu, it is estimated that the cucumber dishes will be cold.

In this case, Duan Qirui might as well let the second mixed brigade continue south and take Guangdong down.

Without the second mixed brigade, he only relied on a fourth division and those provincial troops. To be honest, Duan Qirui himself knew that there was no chance to defend Jiangbei at all. What he wanted was to delay the time. Now the third division of the two rivers and several other troops have successively arrived in Jinling, Zhenjiang and other cities along the Yangtze River. Then the Fourth Division, which has blocked the Feng army in Bengbu for many days, should also retreat again. Otherwise, it is likely to be surrounded by the Feng army and can't leave if you want to leave.

In the face of Duan Qirui's withdrawal, Gu Lanyu of the 3rd Division of the Feng Army snorted coldly. The last time you let Duan Qirui's 4th Division escape smoothly, but this time you still want to escape with your whole body. Don't you really see me Gu Lanyu?

"Send the order, march immediately and be sure to catch up!"