Chapter 247 March to Tangshan

In the temporary headquarters of the Second Army of Shanhaiguan, Zhao Dongyun, who is dressed in military uniform, is listening to the report of Fang Biyong of the General Staff: "As of noon today, General Meng's Third Division has boarded the train, and the heavy trains belonging to the Third Artillery Regiment and other heavy trains have officially departed at 11 a.m.

It is expected that by evening, the 5th Infantry Brigade of the leading force of the 3rd Division will arrive in Tangshan one after another. It is expected that by early tomorrow morning, the 6th Brigade of the 3rd Division will also arrive in Tangshan, and some artillery of the 3rd Artillery Regiment will also arrive in Tangshan in the afternoon.

"When will the First Cavalry Brigade arrive?" Zhao Dongyun asked.

Fangbi Yongdao: "The transportation mission of the First Cavalry Brigade will start in the afternoon and is expected to arrive tomorrow night."

Zhao Dongyun nodded: "Under such tension, you can transport the first division and the first cavalry brigade to the front line in two days. It seems that the work of your staff has not been relaxed. The credit of the traffic department should be recorded!"

The dependence on railways in contemporary wars, especially large-scale wars, is extremely serious. Although this section of distance from Shanhaiguan to Tangshan is not far, it is also more than 100 kilometers. The marching speed of mule-horse infantry troops carrying a large number of artillery and heavy arms is generally between 20 kilometers and 30 kilometers a day, but it is not done. France, like those light infantry, played day and night to force hundreds of miles.

In addition, it is worth explaining that the long-distance mobility of modern cavalry is also relatively tragic, because most of modern cavalry are single riders, not single-rider or even three-riding modes in the ancient Mengyuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. They can change horses and easily play the thing of attacking hundreds of miles. Although modern cavalry also talk about mobility every day A word, but this mobility generally refers to short-range mobility. As for long-distance attacks, it is actually not better than infantry. Daily marches are led by people, and only when fighting will they get on the horse.

Whether it is infantry, cavalry or artillery, the mobility in modern times is actually quite limited, and this is also a mule-horse force, that is to say, the heavy transportation and artillery traction of the troops are responsible for a large number of mules and horses.

Zhao Dongyun's troops are typical mule-horse troops. Although the mobility speed is not slow, it will never go there.

In this case, the large-scale mobility of the troops has to rely heavily on railway transportation.

Whether Zhao Dongyun enters the south of the customs, or Wang Ruxian and Wang Shizhen want to go north for reinforcements, in fact, they have to rely on railway transportation. If they walk on two legs alone, it is estimated that it will be a few months before Wang Shizhen and Wang Ruxian walk from the front line of Hubei to Beijing. However, after the railway, the time they arrive in Beijing is Calculated by day.

In addition, the main reason why the combat office did not worry too much about Duan Qirui and Zhang Huaizhi's troops to go north is that there is no railway on the lines of Zhili, Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu. The historical Jinpu line has not been repaired. When Duan Qirui went south to fight, the transportation of troops and logistics depended on two. It is supported by legs and canals.

Zhao Dongyun wants to enter the customs to fight. This railway transportation is naturally crucial, but although the railway transportation is fast, the capacity of the Beijing-Feng Railway is still too small. This railway is only a single-line railway, and the train skin is limited, and the single batch transportation capacity can only be said to be average.

Now the staff can send out the Third Division and the First Cavalry Brigade of the First Army through various coordination. Although it does not mean much at this time, it is extremely important. To do this, it requires the staff officers of the General Staff. All kinds of planning also require the strong cooperation of the Transportation Department of the General Staff and the Railway Department of the Transportation Bureau of the State Council. Among other things, it is troublesome to raise these train skins alone, and coordinating transportation is even more troublesome.

"The subsequent transportation work of the 9th Division and 10th Division has also begun to be prepared, but our transportation pressure in the next few days is too great. The staff suggested that in addition to the necessary heavy vehicles, infantry and other personnel should march lightly so that they can reach the Tangshan area in a shorter time!"

Zhao Dongyun shook his head: "There is no need for this. Although the front said that the fight will be faster, in order to catch up with this or two, the troops will fall into a disconnection of personnel and equipment, and it will also significantly reduce the soldiers' physical strength, which is not worth the loss. Don't worry. As long as the action of the First Army goes smoothly, then the Second Army It doesn't make much difference to arrive in Tangshan two days earlier or two days later!"

In the entry battle plan formulated by the staff, in fact, there are not many troops participating in the pre-middle battles, because it takes a time process for the Feng army to enter the customs, and before the main force of the Feng army arrives, Wang Yingkai will not sit back and watch you Feng army enter the customs, so the battle is bound to break out.

Therefore, there will not be too many troops involved in the battle in the early stage. It is expected that there will be the fourth mixed brigade of Cao Kuan stationed on the front line of Chengde, the seventh mixed brigade stationed on the Tangshan front line, and the first batch of emergency reinforcements of the third division and the first cavalry brigade.

While Zhao Dongyun and Fang Biyong were discussing the actions and deployment related to customs entry, the atmosphere in Tangshan was extremely tense!

In the headquarters of the 7th Mixed Brigade, a large number of officers and messengers were sent in and out. Telephones rarely seen by ordinary people rang from time to time, and the dripping sound of the telegraph machine was also constantly echoing. Five or six officers were talking about something around a huge sand table.

"The reconnaissance cavalry on the front line has been identified. At present, the first regiment of the first mixed brigade of the direct army is located in the area of Lintingkou, and they are currently marching quickly to the east.

"In addition, a large number of direct troops have also been found in the Linxi area. According to the number speculation, the department should be the fourth regiment of the first division. This fourth regiment appeared in the Linxi area, so the third regiment of another regiment belonging to the second brigade will certainly be nearby. Obviously, their purpose is our Yutian defense line."

"At present, we only have two battalions on the Yutian defense line. Although there are fortifications to rely on, if the enemy troops invest in a brigade and are likely to be accompanied by at least one battalion or more artillery units, then Yutian will be in danger!"

At this time, Li Chun, who had never opened his mouth, said, "Since you can't hold it, withdraw the 5th and 6th Battalion."

At this time, a young school official said, "The order given to us by the superior is to guard, if you retreat rashly!"

Unexpectedly, Li Chun stared at him and said harshly, "The general asked me to guard Tangshan, not Yutian, major, why don't you send orders?"

The reprimanded young major's face turned a little red, but the army was very strict, and he did not dare to refute anything. Immediately after respecting the military strength, he trotted out to prepare to send a telegram to Yutian's troops.

"Hmm, these trainees!" Li Chun looked at the young major and secretly belittled himself: "All of them are high-sighted and low-sighted people!"

Li Chun, when Zhao Dongyun entered the customs last year, he transferred the 'Second Town of the Fengtian Army' to enter the customs, which is also the 10th Division after the Republic. Although the main force of the division was transferred back to the customs after the Republic, the 20th Brigade was left in Tangshan, and then it was adapted into the 7th Mixed Brigade, and Li Chun, the former commander of the 20th Brigade However, he became the brigade commander of the seventh mixed brigade.

Like many officers from old Wubei, Li Chun, like Xu Bangjie and Cao Kun, scoffed at the so-called international students and trainees, thinking that their hair was not the same. After learning half a catty and eight taels, they shouted many annoying remarks every day.

Those international students, especially Yang Deming, rely on the juniors of the general's peers. Their tails are all up as if they should be division commanders and brigade commanders, and they don't see how many pounds they have. It's okay to toss around in the headquarters. If they really want to run to the army to be the commander, they have to be born by those big soldiers. Swallow it.

Although international students are annoying, Li Chun also has to admit that those people do have two brushes, which are one set, but further students are even more annoying.

What is an advanced student? That is, the students who graduated from the training class of the Army Officer School in the three eastern provinces. Because Zhao Dongyun has been teaching in the training class in person for a long time, the students of these training classes naturally have the shamelessly assumed themselves as Zhao Dongyun's students, especially after 1905, the constitution of the training class was officially formulated to determine the academic system. After the enrollment system, the subsequent three-phase advanced students all self-respected as Zhao Dongyun's students.

This is nothing, but the courses taught by these young people in the training class are the most cutting-edge military theory in modern times, which is similar to the teaching content of the Berlin Military Academy and the University of Japan and the Mainland University, but it is limited by the teaching ability. Naturally, the gold content of this teaching will be weakened and reduced, resulting in a lot More trainees seem to know a lot after graduation, and occasionally pop up a few words such as defense economy, but you really ask them to explain these things in detail. In fact, most people don't understand what's going on.

In short, these trainees are half-baked. You say they are low-level military talents. At least they have learned the strategy of commanding legion. You say they are senior military talents. To be honest, their ability is far less than Yang Deming's decent top students who graduated from the Berlin Military Academy.

Moreover, most of these people also have an inexplicable sense of superiority. For a while, they regard themselves as students of Zhao Dongyun, the most decent direct officers of the Feng army, and for a while, they regard themselves as senior military talents. They can't wait to punch Desheng and foot on Lu Shisheng. As for Tianjin's old Wubei and Beiyang Military Academy, they look down on them even more.

Generally speaking, there are not many people in this group. They are mainly graduates of 1905 and 1906 advanced training classes, and dozens of scattered graduates in front of them. In fact, there will not be more than 150 students in the whole Feng army, but this group of people are not liked by their superiors, especially those born in old Wu Bei. Generals generally do not like these students.

But there is nothing you can do if you don't like it. Who makes the senior military talents in the Feng army scarce? There are only a few international students from the Berlin Military Academy. To be honest, Lu Shisheng and German students from ordinary military academies still stay in serial tactics in terms of learning, so these After graduation, half-baked trainees will generally be promoted to major, lieutenant colonel and other military ranks, and then serve as chief of staff and battalion-level chief officers of various units.

In Li Chun's seventh mixed brigade, there are seven battalion commanders in six infantry battalions and one artillery battalion, and there are as many as three trainees. Although Li Chun doesn't like them, he has to endure it. Without these trainees, he can't let those lieutenants who have just graduated from the ordinary class of the Army Officer School of the Eastern Three Provinces. Come and command the battalion-level troops.

Throwing away the joy, Li Chun continued, "How is the situation with Ninghe over there?"

"The enemy over there also has a large-scale movement!"

"Well, let them withdraw and withdraw all the troops back. Today, we will be regarded as turtles for a while. I'd like to see what Wang Yingkai can do with us!" Li Chun is very clear about his task. He has only one task, that is, to ensure the safety of Tangshan, or to ensure the safety of Fuyuan Machinery Factory, and the rest are floating clouds.