Chapter 266 Threats on the Southern Front

When Zhao Dongyun and many personnel of the headquarters stayed in Tangshan to deal with the follow-up summary of the Tangshan Campaign, the pace of a large number of Feng troops did not stop, and the troops almost followed the retreat of the direct army.

With the step-by-step pressure of the Feng army, the direct army that has experienced the fiasco of the Tangshan Campaign is becoming more and more difficult to resist!

On the 28th, the 9th Division of the Feng Army gathered more than 6,000 troops to launch an attack on Ninghe, and Ninghe was defended by Zhu Panzuo of the First Brigade of the First Division of the Direct Army, which had previously been defeated on the first line of Yinfeng and directly caused a major collapse of the direct army.

Although there are still more than 4,000 troops in this first brigade, morale almost fell to the bottom and heavy weapons were almost lost. The two artillery battalions left by Lu Yongxiang to the brigade were devastated. Zhu Panzao could bring back only eight artillery pieces, and the others were either destroyed in the battle or by the army. Seizing, and although the heavy machine grab also brought out a small amount, it was also a loss of more than half.

From a paper point of view, the first brigade under Zhu Panzao is similar in strength and equipment to the ordinary mixed brigade, but due to the influence of morale, especially the Feng army has been chasing after him. They have just entered Ninghe and have not had time to deploy fortifications. The 10th Division chased the troops in six small Later, a large-scale attack was launched.

In this case, the first brigade naturally collapsed again without any surprise, and its performance is completely different from the tenacity of the past half month.

If in mid-June, the first brigade of this first division, as a direct force under Wang Yingkai, can be said to be the top combat effectiveness in China. Lu Yongxiang took more than 10,000 people from the first division and more than 5,000 people in the first mixed brigade, with a total of less than 20,000. Coupled with the cooperation of two new editors, Fifty or sixty thousand elite troops blocked Tangshan and could not move.

However, after the defeat of Tangshan, the backbone of this unit has been completely destroyed. The loss of soldiers and the loss of heavy weapons are still secondary. The most important thing is that the morale of this unit has fallen to the bottom, up to Zhu Panzuo and down to ordinary soldiers. There is only one thing to think about, that is, escape!

So, Ning He, who originally thought that he had to gather the main force of the Ninth Division to take it, took it down, and the offensive force was only a light infantry force, and the artillery brought with only about ten gates, but the first brigade of the direct army defending the city only persisted for less than a day. Then it collapsed again.

This time, there were not many fancy things. The 10th Division launched an attack in the most direct way, and then defeated the First Brigade again in one fell swoop!

After the first brigade was defeated, its remnants retreated to the capital again!

And the Ninth Division did not stop walking, and Xu Bangjie was also a veteran, but he did not want to leave Zhu Panzao time to stop and reorganize his troops. Almost as soon as the first brigade retreated, the 10th Division caught up. On the way, it almost bit the tail of the first brigade to chase.

The pursuit and escape of both sides also greatly affected the direct army in other directions. Why? Because if Xu Bangjie's 9th Division continues to move forward, it is about to arrive in Langfang, and then if the 9th Division goes north and diagonally, then the 2nd Brigade and 11th Division of the 1st Division of the direct army still stay in Baodi and Ji County The 12th Division has to be surrounded by the Feng army again.

In this case, Wang Yingkai made a huge decision that surprised Zhao Dongyun. After the Ninth Division attacked Ninghe, Wang Yingkai personally ordered Lu Yongxiang and other front-line generals to withdraw from the capital immediately, and Baodi and Ji County. .

In the face of the resolute retreat of the direct army, although the Feng army on the front line wanted to pursue, it was actually very difficult to pursue quickly!

From the launch of a large-scale counterattack on the 23rd to the 28th, the troops of the Feng army advanced an average of 50 kilometers in just five days. This propulsion speed is already very rare without the support of railway transportation. In order to transport and replenish these troops separated from railway operations, eight support regiments of the Military Supply Department The people drove carriages, pushed unicycles, and even transported tens of thousands of troops on the front line by shoulder.

However, although there are eight support regiments for logistics transportation tasks, it is still far from enough, especially the transportation of some heavy materials is extremely dependent on regular logistics forces, such as shells. In order to transport these shells, a large number of horses and carriages are needed to drag, which can take a large number of Heavy shells are transported to the front line on a large scale. If you just carry a wheelbicle on your shoulder, the cucumber dishes will be cold when the shells are transported to the front line.

This Feng army is not the National Revolutionary Army or volunteer army of later generations. Those troops of tens of thousands of troops do not have many guns. It is said that the militia are reluctant, and the Feng army does not mention believing in these messy things, but this Feng army is a typical regular army. The artillery belonging to the Feng army is assigned to the armies of various countries. In addition to the equipment, the Feng army is also old-fashioned and conservative when fighting. Every time the infantry launches an attack, they will basically prepare for shelling.

And another very important thing is that although the large number of mortars equipped by the Feng army are cheap, their fast firing speed also brings a large amount of shell consumption. The total consumption of mortar shells in the Feng army has far exceeded the shell consumption of barrel artillery.

And these have made the consumption of Fengjun's ammunition, especially artillery shells, very large!

And the huge ammunition consumption also subjected the logistics system of Fengjun to a severe test. Lieutenant General Hong Putao of the Military Supply Department before the war has realized that the army's own logistics system is seriously insufficient, which has been reflected in the entry of the customs last year, and at the time of entering the customs this year, the Military Supply Department can It was a civilian who hired tens of thousands of people and formed eight support groups for logistics transportation, but it was okay during the Battle of Tangshan, but when the troops began to leave the railway and march west on a large scale, the logistics transportation became insufficient again.

The current situation is that the ammunition supplies of the Feng army in Tangshan are piled up like mountains, but except for the 9th Division, which can be transported smoothly by train, it is difficult to transport ammunition in other directions.

Logistics transportation could not keep up with the advance speed of the troops, which led to the fact that the front line troops caught up with the enemy, but the mortars in their hands were not available!

In the face of this situation, in addition to letting the 10th Division with railway support continue to advance, Zhao Dongyun ordered other departments to suspend the large-scale offensive and carry out a simple rest on the front line of Ji County and Baodi to replenish various combat materials such as ammunition. At the same time, in order to reduce the pressure of logistics transportation, he ordered the third in the direction of Baodi The division, the 10th Division and the 2nd cavalry brigade approached south to get close to the railway and get supplies along the railway.

In this case, the second half of June passed so calmly. The direct army almost shrank and retreated to the capital, while the Feng army moved south on a large scale after taking Baodi and Ji counties, so as to obtain supplies from along the railway, leaving only on the front line of Ji County and Baodi. The fourth mixed brigade and the fifth mixed brigade. Three troops of the First Cavalry Brigade.

Among them, Cao Yun's fourth mixed brigade is also no longer looking forward to Zhao Dongyun. On June 26, they defeated a provincial army deployed in Chengde, and then went south. According to their march plan, they will go south along the southwest direction, and then go straight to the Huairou and Miyun line of the capital, so as to take charge of the north attack. The main force of the situation.

After taking Yutian and Ji counties, He Zonglian's fifth mixed brigade will rest for two days, and then continue to attack west. The scheduled goal is to finally arrive in Tongzhou. This marching route is basically along the route of the third division of the Feng army last year.

The first cavalry brigade mainly traveled in the vast area of the north to cover the logistics and transportation line. In a few days, they will also turn south and follow the second cavalry brigade to the south of Zhili to reinforce Wufengling.

More of the main forces of the Feng army have begun to go south from the Baodi line. Three infantry divisions will arrive in Langfang, and then rely on the logistics supplies provided by the railway line to continue to launch an attack on the Beijing division. At the same time, they will divide their troops south to stop Wang Zhanyuan's 7th Division.

With the progress of the Zhifeng War, Wang Zhanyuan's 7th Division has marched for more than half a month and has now arrived at the front line of Tianjin Machang, which is not good news for the Feng army. They must stop the 7th Division outside Tianjin, at least outside the Beijing-Feng Railway, and at the same time, they can't let Wang Zhanyuan's troops The team bypassed to carry out the capital to avoid large-scale tenacious resistance when the Feng army attacked the capital, thus delaying the war.

The overall situation is still very tight for the Feng army. Wu Fengling, who defends the front line of Shijiazhuang, has called many times and asked Zhao Dongyun to quickly send reinforcements south to support him. Otherwise, his 10,000 people can't stop Wang Ruxian's 20,000 people, not to mention Wang Shizhen's defeat in the Tangshan battle. After that, only a brigade was sent to the north. You should know that Wang Shizhen was not only fighting a war in China, but also working with Zhang Zhidong. Wang Shizhen launched several large-scale attacks since the beginning of June in order to capture the three towns of Wuhan. Although the attack was resisted by Zhang Zhidong, it has been smooth. After taking Hankou, it is launching a large-scale offensive against Hanyang. It is worth mentioning that it was affected by the war, especially the large-scale shelling of Wang Shizhen's headquarters. In addition, Zhang Zhidong did not carry out large-scale relocation before the war, resulting in large-scale shelling of Hanyang factory, many factories and equipment losses, and in battle. The front line has been forced to shut down completely.

At a critical moment in the war in Wuhan, Wang Shizhen also sent a brigade of troops to the north, obviously realizing the importance of the problem. As for Duan Qirui sent troops to the north earlier, because Duan Qirui knew that there was no railway for the transportation of his troops, he sent a brigade to the north early, but Duan Qirui At first, the idea was not to reinforce Wang Yingkai. This brigade is used to prevent it. Now this brigade is still in Xuzhou.

As for Zhang Huaizhi's troops, like Wang Ruxian, they began to go north when the Zhifeng War broke out, but the road was far away. Now Zhang Huaizhi's main force is still in Anhui, and the brigade that invaded the north in early June has just arrived in Huaibei.

Judging from the location of Zhang Huaizhi and Duan Qirui's troops and the contemporary traffic situation, they can't get to Zhili for another month.

However, Wang Ruxian and Wang Shizhen's troops can use the railway to maneuver. It only takes them to go north for a few days, which is also the reason why Zhao Dongyun did not hesitate to pay a lot to attract Wu Fengling, because he needed Wu Fengling to stop Wang Ruxian and Wang Shizhen's north troops in Shijiazhuang.