Chapter 347 The overall situation of Jiangbei 2

In Fengyang County, a large number of Anhui soldiers in earthy yellow or dark blue military uniforms formed a long queue and rushed out of the south gate and retreated to the south.

When the army began to retreat, the Fourth Division was also in a panic in the temporary headquarters of Fengyang. The officers and soldiers of the headquarters hurriedly brought various documents to the carriage and burned a large number of confidential documents. In the backyard, a group of middle and senior Anhui military officers were gathering together to get on the horse and the army. The retreat was naturally led by Duan Qirui. At this time, they were discussing the route of retreat, but the discussion had just begun, followed by a messenger galloping on a tall horse.

It didn't take long for him to rush to Duan Qirui. After he hurriedly disembed from the horse, he handed Duan Qirui an emergency war report.

Duan Qirui opened it and looked at the silence for a long time. Several people next to him saw that Duan Qirui's expression was not very good. Someone immediately said, "Marshal, but the battle report of Fengyang in the back?"

Duan Qirui nodded: "Bengbu Town has been conquered by the Feng army, and the first brigade of Liangjiang is retreating to Risk County!"

Hearing this, several people next to him looked surprised: "Even if our army does not leave many defensive troops in Bengbu, there are more than 5,000 people. The combat strength of the first brigade of the two rivers is not as good as the fourth division and the second mixed brigade in our army, but it can be regarded as a combatable division. It's only a day. Maybe I lost Bengbu!"

However, some people don't know whether to comfort themselves or Duan Qirui, and said, "However, as long as the main force of the first brigade of the two rivers is damaged and relies on Fengyang County to stick to it, it should not be a big problem to delay another two or three days."

However, this said attracted opposition: "I think it's terrible. Although Bengbu is only an outer defense line, our army has built a defense line in Bengbu for many days. This is one of the main defense lines before our army. Bengbu can't hold it for a day, and it may be difficult to rely on Fengyang County, which is like fortifications!"

In this era, the government of Fengyang Prefecture is in Fengyang County. Bengbu is a town under Fengyang County, but although Bengbu is only a town, it is an important barrier in the north of Fengyang County. Previously, when Duan Qirui personally led the fourth division to defend Fengyang, he also deployed the main force in Bengbu. Otherwise, Bengbu was just The name of a small town will not appear frequently in the battle reports of the senior officials of the two armies of Feng and Anhui.

To put it rudely, in a series of defense lines built by the Anhui army, Bengbu is one of the most important frontier defense lines. Relatively speaking, Fengyang Fucheng is not as important as Bengbu. Now Bengbu, which has built many days of fortifications, has only been guarded for less than a day, although there is a large gap in the upper force gap. However, it is also difficult to believe that the First Brigade of the Two Rivers can stay longer after retreating to Fengyang Prefecture.

Duan Qirui also said at this time: "The loss of Bengbu will be sooner or later, and now it's only a few days earlier than we expected!"

At this time, Zhang Yongcheng next to him said, "Marshal, do you think we have left some troops behind?"

As soon as his words came out, several people next to him looked shocked. Tang Tianxi, the commander of the 7th Brigade of the 4th Division of the Central Army, immediately said, "Who else can be the broken army now? Should we leave the main force of our 4th Division to break the back?"

His words aroused a burst of discussion. What is the foundation of the Anhui army? That's the fourth division. To be honest, although the strength of the Anhui army is as high as more than 100,000, there are only two that can really fight head-on with the Feng army, that is, the fourth division and the second mixed brigade.

In the battle, even if the first division, second division, fifth division, second mixed brigade and other troops of the Liangjiang Army have been lost, but they did not feel much distressed, including Duan Qirui, because these troops were just cannon fodder.

Even Zhang Yongcheng, the commander of the First Division of the Liangjiang Army, knew it. Even when he withdrew from Xuzhou and Fengyang, he offered to break his troops, because the first division of the Liangjiang Army under his command was lost. As long as the fourth division was still there, they would not take two months. It can pull up another first division of the Liangjiang Army.

However, those Liangjiang Army, Zhejiang Army and others can be abandoned as cannon fodder, but the Fourth Division cannot be abandoned. After the Fourth Division is broken, it is impossible at ordinary times.

Duan Qirui himself quickly rejected this suggestion. However, the matter is not that Duan Qirui can do whatever he wants. By the next day, when the Fourth Division finally left Fengyang County for more than 20 kilometers, the war report came again. This morning, the Third Division of the Feng Army carried out a large-scale battle against Fengyangfu City. After the attack, more than 4,000 people in the first brigade of the Liangjiang Army, who retreated from Bengbu and stationed in Fengyang, who served as the unit of the whole army, could not resist the attack of the third division of the Feng army at all. In less than a day, they quickly collapsed. The remnants of the department were forced to withdraw from Fengyang Fucheng to avoid being completely annihilated, and their remnants had quickly fled south.

After Fengyang City was captured, it means that the broken troops left by the Anhui army have been completely defeated, and now the distance between the two sides is only more than 20 kilometers!

After hearing the news, although Duan Qirui was in a bad heart, he still said calmly, "Order the troops, accelerate the march, and let the heavy troops abandon all supplies except ammunition!"

Zhang Yongcheng, who was beside him, said, "Don't you want those hundreds of tons of grain?"

"There is no need to delay the march of the troops for these food. The five-day food carried by the soldiers themselves is enough for us to support Chuzhou, and there is a natural food supply in Chuzhou!" Duan Qirui is a decisive person. Although that grain is also important, it is nothing compared with the safety of his fourth division. Anyway, there is no shortage of food, so there is no need for these grains to delay the pace of retreat.

Of course, it is not good to throw or burn the grain directly. Duan Qirui ordered the army to distribute the grain directly to the people along the way to buy people's hearts.

The Fourth Division ran all the way south and even threw away a lot of heavy supplies in order to speed up the march. Of course, important military supplies such as artillery, machine guns and shells would not be abandoned. Without these equipment, the Fourth Division would not be the Fourth Division. When it retreated from Xuzhou, the situation was even more critical. These heavy weapons and equipment have also not been abandoned.

In the face of Duan Qirui's escape, Gu Lanyu, who was pursuing him, was itching. Qirui's ability to fight was not good, but his ability to escape was not weak. In order to escape, he actually abandoned the first brigade of the two rivers. Although it let the Feng army achieved the record of defeating an enemy brigade, but also because After at least a day's delay, Duan Qirui successfully pulled down the distance between the two sides by more than 20 kilometers. Although it is only 20 kilometers, it is not so easy to catch up. After all, you are chasing others and running.

"We can't chase them so passively, otherwise we can't catch up, and when they arrive in Chuzhou, I'm afraid there will be another fierce battle, and we must stop them!" The hole next to it looks north like this.

However, Pei Lianying said, "How can we stop it? We can't catch up now!"

Kong Guanbei said, "Dimen, do you think we can send the cavalry regiment out, force the army to occupy Dingyuan and then delay the enemy?"

Pei Lianying still objected: "How can a cavalry regiment of only have more than 500 people to delay more than 20,000 elite main forces?" However, Pei Lianying did not blindly object. He also said, "I think we can let a regiment march lightly. Day and night may not be able to catch up with the enemy, or even make a detour to the enemy!"

At this time, Gu Lanyu said, "A cavalry regiment and an infantry regiment are inappropriate."

It sounds good to march lightly to chase and even stop the enemy, but since it is light, it means that you can't bring heavy weapons. You can only rely on a small number of light weapons in your hands to stop the enemy, and may even be bitten by the enemy. After all, they are not chasing any miscellaneous troops, but Duan Qirui's fourth Teacher.

As the so-called shadow of the famous tree, this fourth division has not been defeated since it became an army, so it is also difficult to fight with the main force of the Feng army on the other side of Xuzhou. Although they retreated all the way from Xuzhou, it was a strategic initiative to retreat, not a head run away by the Feng army.

If the strength of the two is very different, the Third Division of the Feng Army will be able to defeat the Fourth Division when it is in Bengbu. It is necessary to wait for reinforcements there. Now, the reinforcements did not wait, and the Fourth Division ran away again, so that the Third Division was once again forced to go south alone to pursue. As for the reinforcements behind, the nearest ninth division The 17th Brigade is still more than 30 kilometers away.

So even if Gu Lanyu has great confidence in his own troops, he will not think that a regiment in the splic area, and the regiment that catches up with light and urgent troops can stop the enemy.

Gu Lanyu thought for a moment and then said, "Is the 17th Brigade of the 9th Division still Huaiyuan?"

Pei Lianying said, "They just arrived in Huaiyuan this morning!"

"Notice them, let them accelerate the march to support our department, and cover our regiment and artillery to catch up with us in time!" Gu Lanyu said, "As for us? The combat troops of the whole division march lightly day and night!"

"The whole division marched lightly?" Even Pei Lianying, who proposed to march lightly, showed a trace of doubt at this time: "Is it too dangerous?"

Light and emergency marching is not scarce, but to be honest, it is really rare to use a whole main division to play light and emergency march. You should know that the contemporary Feng army, especially the main division such as the Third Division, is a heavy infantry force in the mule-horse era, carrying a large number of heavy weapons with the army, the third How is the combat effectiveness of the division reflected?

is reflected in the 48 artillery regiment equipped with 75mm artillery, more than 150 mortars of all caliber, and more than 200 light and heavy machine guns. In order to exert the power of these weapons, the troops must provide a large supply of ammunition at any time. This is also the reason why the number of logistics troops in the Feng army far exceeds that of other warlord troops. It is not that there are many people, but that there are not enough heavy troops to meet the logistics transportation needs of the troops at all.

However, if you play light and emergency marching, it means that the infantry will get rid of these heavy weapons and rely only on the infantry's own firepower. It is unknown who will catch up with the Fourth Division and who will fight it.

The risk is relatively high!

Gu Lanyu said, "They are now trying to escape. If they don't change, we can't catch up at all. Will the fourth division escape all the way to Jinling? How can we cross the river with this fourth division? How to enter the Jiangnan area?

"Even if there is a certain risk, I will keep this fourth division!" Gu Lanyu's decision was resolute. That afternoon, after informing the friendly troops such as Xu Bangjie of the 2nd Army and the 17th Brigade of the 9th Division, he left the artillery regiment, the heavy regiment and other auxiliary forces and began to march with the pure infantry of two brigades.

One wanted to escape and the other wanted to chase, so tens of thousands of troops of the two armies of Fengwan once again staged a chase war in Jiangbei!