Chapter 327 Shock in Hubei

In the military and political framework of the Soviet system, there are three major institutions: the presidential palace, the cabinet and the command department. The presidential palace has four major departments: the secretariat, the advisory office, the inspection office and the military officer department. Among them, the secretariat is responsible for assisting Zhao Dongyun in handling military and political affairs; the advisory office is a nominal institution, mainly hiring prestigious officials and generals as advisers to the presidential palace; the inspection office is mainly responsible for the supervision of officials, and the military officer office is reorganized from Zhao Dongyun's guard, mainly responsible for Zhao Dongyun and his family. Personal safety.

Needless to say, the cabinet is the main component of the government.

The command department includes the General Staff Department, the Ordnance Department, the Ministry of Education, the Quartermaster Department, the Puxu Department, the Naval Department, the General Affairs Office, etc., while the General Staff Department has departments such as the Operations Department, the Strategy Department, the Supervision Department, the Establishment Department, the Intelligence Department, the Communications Section and other departments.

As the directly central government department of the General Staff, the daily work of this intelligence department is under the jurisdiction of Fang Biyong, the general director of the General Staff. Chang'an of the Intelligence Department also reports his work to Fang Biyong on weekdays. It is rare to say that he will report his work directly to Zhao Dongyun. Today, he is compligently seeking emergency. Obviously, there is a major military incident. Newspaper.

Zhao Dongyun went to the study and guessed what had happened. Based on the scope of work of the Intelligence Department, the accident should be external military affairs, such as the major military movements of Duan Qirui's army, the major military movements of the Southern Federation, etc., and this will not be the front-line war report of the Feng army itself, because The way to repay the war report is spread layer by layer. Finally, it should be reported to himself by Fang Biyong, the chief of the General Staff. It is not his turn to come together for urgent meeting.

The matter was similar to Zhao Dongyun's guess. When An Yu arrived, what he said was not the military war report on the front line, but the military intelligence related to the Southern Federation.

"According to the emergency report of intelligence officials arranged by our intelligence department in Hubei, yesterday, Li Yuanhong's army of the Southern Federation, the Fourth Northern Expedition of the pseudo-Southern Federal Empire, captured Xiaogan County in Hanyang two days ago, severely damaged the eighth mixed brigade under Wang Shizhen, thus cutting off the north-south contact of Wang Shizhen's division!" An Yutong said so.

Zhao Dongyun immediately showed doubts when he heard it: "How can the Southern Federation hit the eighth mixed brigade? Just rely on Li Yuanhong's Fourth Army of the Northern Expedition?"

Zhao Dongyun had to wonder that since the war between the north and south began last year, it has basically been the situation of Beiyang troops crushing the Southern Federation. You can see from the war between Duan Qirui and Duanfang and Xiliang that Duan Qirui only relied on 30,000 to 40,000 people to capture the whole of Jiangsu and Anhui, fighting Duanfang and Xiliang. Nearly 200,000 troops were defeated and retreated day by day. In Nanjing First alone, the army of more than 100,000 troops in the Southern Federation could not be defeated in the face of tens of thousands of attacks by Duan Qirui. Duan Qirui's captured prisoners was soft. Otherwise, how did you think Duan Qirui's 100,000 troops were pulled up? It was not relying on those prisoners of war and The armored weapons have been seized.

Although the war between Wang Shizhen and Zhang Zhidong in Hubei has not made much progress, the first army of Zhang Zhidong's Northern Expedition was defeated by Wang Shizhen many times since Henan, and was forced to retreat to Wuhan thousands of miles from Henan. Then Hankou and Hanyang were captured by Wang Shizhen one after another in Zhao Dongyun's In my impression, Zhang Zhidong can only rely on the Yangtze River to guard Wuchang. How can there be such a big variable?

As the director of the Intelligence Department, he naturally knows more about the southern troops than Zhao Dongyun, a busy man. He immediately explained: "Wang Shizhen's troops on the front line of Hankou have been greatly weakened in recent months. At first, it was Wang Ruxian's troops north. Then Wang Shizhen transferred several mixed brigades to Henan, and these troops were annihilated by our army in the past battles such as Shijiazhuang and Zhengzhou. Subsequently, Wang Shizhen was forced to transfer more than 20,000 people north to Wushengguan to garrison and block our troops going south. In this way, his troops on the front line of Hankou became very small. It is estimated that his troops on the front line of Hanyang will not exceed 30,000!"

"In addition, Wang Shizhen's troops have been extremely dependent on our arms supply in the past year, and since our army prepared to enter the customs, they have stopped stopping weapons and ammunition from him, and the Hanyang Arsenal he took has turned into ruins. Although many months have passed, they still have not been able to organize to resume production, although he can Other ways to obtain weapons and ammunition supplies, but the quantity should be very limited!"

An Yutong continued: "In contrast, the number of troops under his command has continued to grow since last year. Although it has suffered heavy losses in many wars such as Henan and Hanyang, it soon recovered its strength after mobilization of troops and finances from Sichuan, Yunnan, Hunan and other provinces. According to our speculation Zhang Zhidong's troops in Hubei will not be less than 150,000. Although most of its combat effectiveness is limited, the total strength should not be underestimated!"

When Zhao Dongyun heard this, he was also slightly surprised. He didn't expect that the Southern Federation was not as vulnerable as he thought. Although Duan Fang and Xiliang suffered continuous defeats in the two rivers, Fujian and Zhejiang, they have never been defeated in Hubei and Shanxi.

For example, in Shanxi, although Wu Fengling has always suppressed Zhao Erxun to fight again, as long as you see that today's war is still taking place in Shanxi, you will find that it is actually difficult for Wu Fengling to sweep Shaanxi and Gansu by relying on himself, and even it is very difficult to completely drive Zhao Erxun out of Shanxi. Although the troops of the Southern Federation suffered many fiasco in the early stage, it can still be seen from defending Wuchang under Wang Shizhen's fierce attack that they are not as vulnerable as they thought.

As for Duanfang and Xiliang in the direction of Liangjiang and Fujian and Zhejiang, this is mainly because they were beaten so badly by Duan Qirui in northern Jiangsu and Nanjing that it has been difficult to recover their vitality, but even if they are retreating steadily, they are still fighting.

This Zhang Zhidong also has a strategic vision. He knows that Wang Shizhen had been cleaned up by himself before, so he took this opportunity to launch a counterattack, relying on the advantage of troops to bypass the front line of Hanyang, and then attack Xiaogan. In this way, the situation of Wang Shizhen's department on the front line of Hanyang is estimated to be very good.

"What about the Hubei army in Hanyang? How is it now? Did the troops of the Southern Federation cross the river on a large scale? Zhao Dongyun continued to ask.

An Yutong said: "According to the information we have learned now, after Li Yuanhong's Fourth Army of the Northern Expedition conquered Xiaogan, another main force under Zhang Zhidong's First Army of the Northern Expedition also moved frequently. We expect that they will cross the river on a large scale in the future, and then try to attack Hankou with the Fourth Army of the Northern Expedition. On the Hanyang front line, and the Hubei army on this line is only more than 20,000 at most. Even with the remnants of the eighth mixed brigade, it should be difficult to support the counterattack of more than 100,000 people under Zhang Zhidong!"

This last sentence is the focus of meeting Zhao Dongyun urgently!

The intelligence officers of the Intelligence Office are extremely pessimistic about the possibility of Wang Shizhen being able to defend Hankou and Hanyang, believing that Wang Shizhen's troops in the area are likely to fall into siege and be annihilated. If this is a normal day, Wang Shizhen's troops will be annihilated. Zhao Dongyun is expected to clap his hands on Qing. Wishing you all.

But it's different now!

The war in Hubei is not only related to Wang Shizhen's own survival, but also directly affects the domestic situation, especially the follow-up strategic arrangements of Fengjun.

If Wang Shizhen is defeated in Hubei, then Zhang Zhidong's 100,000 army will definitely go north and then directly face the Feng army. Although Zhao Dongyun is confident in his own Feng army, the reality is that the troops deployed by the Feng army in Henan are only secondary troops, only two divisions of the third army, and among them There is only one 13th Division that can really be used to fight against Hubei. To be honest, without Wang Shizhen in front of him, it is difficult to stop more than 100,000 troops from going north by relying on a 13th division.

It is precisely because this change may occur that An Yutong is urgently seeking to see Zhao Dongyun!

After Zhao Dongyun asked other details, he began to meditate!

The next day, Zhao Dongyun held a military meeting on this matter, and the focus of this meeting was not on the battle of Xuzhou in full swing, but on how to deal with the sudden change in the direction of Hubei!

"Although the situation in Hubei has changed a little more, our recent strategic focus is still in northern Jiangsu. According to our current strength, especially the supply of ordnance, it is difficult to fight in other directions outside the war in northern Jiangsu!" Zhao Dongping, as the butler of ordnance, expressed his opinion at the first time, that is:

"Now we should try our best to avoid large-scale wars on the front lines of Henan and Hubei. Even if we want to move, we have to wait until the end of the Subei Campaign!"

Shi Yanglin, who fought, also said, "I also agree with President Zhao's opinion. Now our troops are too tight, and the troops that can be deployed are basically reinforced to northern Jiangsu. Now it is not easy for Henan to rely on the two divisions of the Third Army to control the situation, and it is not appropriate to provoke another large-scale war!"

However, a middle-aged man next to him said, "But if we don't move, will the people of the Southern Federation wait for us to end the war in northern Jiangsu before acting? Once they conquer Hanyang, the next step must be to continue north to Wusheng Pass. At that time, we have to fight if we don't fight, so I suggest that we should make plans early!"

The young man speaking is Ren Zhengen, the director of the Strategic Office of the General Staff. This person was born in the vanguard of the Right Army of Wuwei. He was born in the 11th martial arts. As early as Zhao Dongyun prepared for the establishment of the Third Association, he transferred to Zhao Dongyun and was regarded as an old-qualified Soviet general. Although this person's ability is not very top-notch, his qualification is old enough, and his ability is barely enough to get into Zhao Dongyun's eyes. He can't compare with Gu Lanyu, Meng Enyuan and Chen Guangyuan, but it is actually not bad compared with other ordinary generals. Therefore, after serving as the leader of the Third Association, the battalion officer of the Third Town, the standard of the first town of the Fengtian Standing Army, and the commander of the commander of the Ninth Division, he was transferred to the chief of staff of the Harbin Defense Command and successfully promoted to the rank of major general of the army in this position. On the eve of entering the customs, the three defense headquarters outside the customs were temporarily abolished, and he was transferred to the staff of the commander-in-chief. Director of Strategy.

After Ren Zhengen said, Shi Yanglin said again: "Preparation is naturally necessary, but preparation should also be based on defense!"

Shi Yanglin's voice fell, and the generals of the commander-in-chief also spoke separately. For a while, there were different opinions, but most of them still maintained a bottom line, that is, no matter how the situation in Hubei and Henan changed, the Feng army should still focus on the war in northern Jiangsu in the next month or even two months. Hubei and Henan should be cautious and conservative, but they have different opinions on how to deal with these people.

Some say that they should first seize Wusheng Pass directly from the Hubei army, and then rely on Wusheng Pass to defend and watch the development of the war in Hubei. Others say that they should withdraw from outside Wusheng Pass, return to the front line of Xinyang, rely on the city to build fortifications, and then build a strong defense line.

Zhao Dongyun watched his generals arguing, and he was also thinking about how to deal with the changes in Hubei!