Chapter 306 Xuzhou Zhanqi

More than 100,000 troops of the three armies of the Fengwanlu Army are about to be gathered on the northern Jiangsu front, and the total number of troops on this line has exceeded the previous Tangshan battle of the two families. Although the battle of more than 100,000 troops was nothing during the Russo-Japanese War. After all, in the battles of Fengtian and Liaoyang during the Russo-Japanese War, the two sides participated in the war were increased. With more than 600,000, it is even more impossible to compare with the millions-scale battles of World War I and World War II in later generations.

But this battle formed by more than 100,000 modern armies is extremely rare for contemporary China!

Although due to the outbreak of the civil war, various armed forces in China have surged in the past year, and the regular and irregular armed forces under the command of major warlords have added up to more than one million, there are not many field troops that can really fight in it, and most of them are concentrated in the hands of Beiyang troops, especially It is in the hands of Zhao Dongyun, and the others are scattered among the Anhui army, the Hubei army and the Jin army. As for the total number of troops in the hands of the Southern Federation, which is no less than the troops of the Beiyang warlords, most of the troops of the Southern Federation are mostly chaotic, and only a few main forces can barely fight against the elites of the North, such as Zhang Zhidong. The eighth town, the 21st town, the 19th town under Zhao Erxun, Duanfang's 38th town newly compiled in Liangguang, and the former Jiangbei mixed brigade of Xiliang all the way back to the 46th town that was reorganized and expanded after Fujian.

You can see from the numbers of the main forces of the Southern Federation. At this time, how messy the number and establishment of the Southern Federation are. The number of the town level is more than 40, but in fact, there are not many towns that can be pulled out. Most of them are all kinds of messy new and old troops occupied. With some numbers, hundreds of people dare to hit the banner of a certain town.

The regular field troops in the hands of various warlords in China are actually less than 300,000, and Zhao Dongyun's family accounts for nearly half of more than 100,000.

This is also the reason why many domestic warlords regard Zhao Dongyun as the biggest threat. Although the Feng army now has only 100,000 troops going south, you should know that these hundreds of thousands are regular field troops, each of which is equipped with perfect light and heavy weapons. After complete training, any one of these troops can fight with it. The most elite troops under his army fought against each other, so although the Feng army returned to the south in two ways, it still made other warlords feel numb, even Duan Qirui, who has more than 100,000.

Otherwise, Duan Qirui would not have been able to transfer troops from the southern front to the north as much as the enemy, and as 700 to 80,000 troops were transferred, but in terms of the number of troops, it has far exceeded the more than 30,000 people of the Second Army from Shandong.

Duan Qirui deployed so many troops to gather in Xuzhou, putting on a posture of fighting to the death in Xuzhou, that is, forcing the Feng army to change its original strategy. Not only did the newly formed third army go south to reinforce Henan, but also transferred the first army eastward to Xuzhou after capturing Zhengzhou.

This led to a huge force of more than 80,000 soldiers of the First Army and the Second Army around the Xuzhou front.

This is self-defeating for Duan Qirui. If Duan Qirui only transferred 30,000 to 40,000 people north to Xuzhou, the Feng army would not pay so much attention to it and would not specially transfer the first army from Henan to northern Anhui to participate in the Xuzhou Campaign.

The various behaviors of the two sides in the war affect each other. The reason why it will result in the future is only known after fighting

And the front line of Xuzhou gathered more than 150,000 troops from both sides, resulting in the largest battle since last year's civil war. Such a large-scale battle is also a serious challenge for the command system of the Feng army.

As the First Army and the Second Army successively arrived at the front line of Xuzhou, especially in the 19th Brigade to capture Haizhou. After the Feng Army used many ships from the Navy and the Quartermaster Department for maritime supplies, the front-line troops, especially the First Army from the south of Shandong, received sufficient supplies.

At this time, the battle between Feng and Anhui for half a month was finally coming to an off!

On September 19, Zhao Dongyun officially appointed Meng Enyuan as the former commander-in-chief of the enemy in Xuzhou and Xu Bangjie as the deputy commander, command of the 100mm heavy artillery battalions directly under the jurisdiction of the First Army, the Second Army and the two command departments.

After many days of rest, the 20th Brigade of the 10th Division under Xu Bangjie went south from the city and launched an attack on Pizhou 60 kilometers away from Xuzhou, which is an important stronghold between Suqian and Xuzhou. It not only guards the canal passage, but also can avoid other troops of the Second Army from attacking Xuzhou. Threatened by flanks.

Therefore, in the operational plan of the Operations Department of the Feng Army Command, the capture of this place is the prelude to the general attack on Xuzhou.

However, Duan Qirui on the opposite side also knew that he wanted to defend not only a city in Xuzhou, but also the whole northern Jiangsu defense line, and important peripheral strongholds such as Pizhou would not easily give up, so there was a whole mixed brigade defending the place.

However, with such a huge battle of Xuzhou, it is naturally impossible to only break out the war here in Pizhou. At the same time, the 19th Brigade took Haizhou. In addition to sending a battalion to continue eastward into the coastal cover port, other troops of the 19th Brigade continued to go south to Muyang.

Other main forces of the Second Army under Xu Bangjie, including the Third Division, the First Mixed Brigade and the Heavy Artillery Force, went straight to Xuzhou along the southeast.

In the west of Xuzhou, the first army led by Meng Enyuan also approached Xuzhou less than 30 kilometers away and successively conquered many peripheral defense lines of the Anhui army such as Tangshan and Xiayi. However, in the face of the fierce offensive of the First Army of the Feng army, Duan Qirui wisely chose to shrink the defense line and shrink the strength of many peripheral defense lines in the west to Come to Xuzhou.

On the 27th, the Ninth Division of the First Army captured Xiao County, an important peripheral stronghold west of the Xuzhou defense line. At this time, the main force of the First Army can be said to be under Xuzhou.

However, the closer to Xuzhou, the more careful the Feng army generals on the front line fought, and they were also seemed extremely cautious in fighting, because any middle and senior Feng army general knew that the victory or defeat of this battle was about who could eventually reach the top of China, and Zhao Dongyun in the rear would not tolerate any command mistakes.

To be honest, if the communication means are not too backward these days, Zhao Dongyun would have wanted to learn from the remote command of later Zhiqing. It's not that he doesn't know the shortcomings of remote control, but that he is really worried.

With the outbreak of the Battle of Xuzhou, Zhao Dongyun's worry can be seen by others. Although Zhao Dongyun is still as calm as before, people who have followed him for a long time can see that Zhao Dongyun has been worried about the battle in Xuzhou during this period.

Li San, as an old entourage around Zhao Dongyun, naturally has a very clear understanding of Zhao Dongyun's various expressions and body language. Without this ability to observe words and colors, he would not have followed Zhao Dongyun for so long.

"President, here comes tea!" Li San put down the teacup, but Zhao Dongyun did not turn around and still stared at the large Chinese map on the back wall of the office.

Li San waited for a few breaths. When he originally planned to go out, Zhao Dongyun said, "Li San, how long have you been following me!"

Li San listened to this headless words and was a little stunned, and then said, "If you go back to the president, the ministry has been following you for seven years!"

Li San was his bodyguard when he served as the commander of the right military camp of Zhao Dongyun in 1901, and then he has been following Zhao Dongyun. He was promoted from ordinary bodyguard to Ma Ben, and then to the officer of the escort team. Later, he successively served as the director of the Third Town Camp Office, the General's Palace of Shengjing, the Governor's Office of the Three Eastern Provinces, and the Governor' Office of the Eastern Three Provinces. Director of the Secretariat, and then to the current Director of the Secretariat of the Presidential Palace.

Although his position has changed a lot, his work has never changed. In nominal terms, he is the director of the secretariat, but in fact, he does not interfere in government affairs. He mainly acts as Zhao Dongyun's accompanying secretary. What he says badly is the role of carrying bags and serving tea and pouring water.

However, in spite of this, no one in the Soviet system dares to underestimate him. Zhao Dongyun's trust in the Soviet system represents power.

Zhao Dongyun said, "Calculations, you have been following me for a long time. Do you think I have failed for so many years?"

Li San looked doubtful, but continued to answer respectfully: "No, since the president took office in the Wuwei Right Army, neither internal and external struggles have been defeated!"

Zhao Dongyun turned around, and then Li San saw a wry smile on his face. Li San saw this expression and guessed in his heart: Is there something wrong with the front line of Xuzhou?

However, although Li San rarely intervenes in military and political affairs, at least he is the director of the Secretariat. He is clear about many things. He also has the right to read the weekly military briefings. According to the news he learned, although the Feng army is not progressing too fast on the front line of Xuzhou, it is the step by the Feng army. Because of caution, in fact, Fengjun's actions on the front line of Xuzhou are very smooth, and everything is still under the pre-planned by the combat office.

If it is not the cause of the Xuzhou front line, is there something wrong with the cabinet? It seems that there is no such thing. The second cabinet was formed by Zhao Dongyun himself. Most of them are well-thought-out senior officials, and most of them are from the Soviet Union. Although there have been many troubles since the formation of the cabinet, they have handled many domestic affairs in a smooth and orderly manner. There is no irreconcilable contradiction.

Li San was secretly guessing, but Zhao Dongyun did not intend to hide anything. The Li San in front of him was not only his subordinate, but also an old man who had followed him for many years. He immediately said, "It came from Japan that he had withheld a batch of ordnance orders from us!"

When Li San heard this, his face immediately changed: "This oriental man is so hateful that he is so reckless!"

Li San scolded Ri, who ignored Xinyi, but the word Xinyi was nothing for Zhao Dongyun. What he really cared about was the meaning behind his move.