Chapter 394 Lei Zhenchun's Caution

Looking at the Anhui soldiers appearing in the distance, Fang Qingkun's face showed a trace of sadness!

Since afternoon, a large number of Anhui soldiers in dark blue military uniforms have appeared in front of his position. If these Anhui troops launch an attack as soon as they arrive, it is still a good thing, because this will form an oil-adding tactic, which is a good thing for the Feng army crossing the river with fewer troops. .

However, what worried Fang Qingkun was that the Anhui army on the opposite side did not say that he was in a hurry to launch an attack, but stopped a few kilometers away from the Feng army, and then made various pre-attack deployments while waiting for the arrival of the follow-up troops.

When Fang Qingkun tried to launch an active attack, due to the long distance and the open terrain, the Anhui army on the opposite side could react in time and make corresponding tactical deployments to target, successfully forcing Fang Qingkun to stop the idea of taking the initiative.

However, with the passage of time, the Anhui army on the opposite side gathered more and more. From a battalion at the beginning, to a regiment, and then to a brigade, this did not count. In the end, Fang Qingkun saw the appearance of the enemy artillery units from his telescope.

"From now on, the real test is coming!" Although Fang Qingkun was worried, he put away these worried expressions in front of his subordinates and showed his self-confidence as usual!

Under the influence of Fang Qingkun's self-confidence, although the officers of the 33rd Regiment also played drums in their hearts and had a lot of worries about the follow-up war, they did not have any messy ideas.

And the stability of the officers also directly stabilizes the confidence of the soldiers!

After all, ordinary soldiers do not know that they are about to face the attack of more than one brigade of the enemy, and they can only get a few words from the officers.

And the officers told them not to worry. When they come up, we will do it. Don't worry. Our reinforcements are about to arrive. After our main army crosses the river, the whole south of the Yangtze River will be ours.

However, there are also some clever soldiers who have not found that the situation is a little different from usual from the nervous expressions inadvertently expressed by the officers and the continuous emergence of Anhui soldiers in the distance.

The biggest difference is that this time it did not take the initiative to launch an attack, which is rare in the previous history of the Ninth Division.

However, it can be seen that there are only a few soldiers with different things, and most of the soldiers are still digging trenches and building defense lines according to the instructions of the officers.

In Ma'anshan, a few kilometers away from the West Mountain, the temporary command of the 17th Brigade, the combat staff have been busy, and the messengers keep running in and out. These messengers rushed to this small beach on the horses that cost a lot of money to transport across the river, and transmitted back all kinds of war reports in time. At the same time, Pan Luanqing's various combat orders were transmitted to the officers of various departments on the front line.

In the headquarters, Pan Luanqing also sat in the main seat cautiously, and below was Colonel Qu Ganyun, the commander of the 34th Regiment, Colonel Qu Zhiqing, the Chief of Staff of the 17th Brigade, and other officers of the 17th Brigade.

"The pressure on the thirty-third regiment is still too heavy. In addition, their ammunition consumption is extremely high. After many battles, the soldiers' physical strength is exhausted, and their morale has also declined. If they are only allowed to resist the attack of the main force of the Seventh Division of Liangjiang alone, I'm afraid it will be too reluctant!" Colonel Qu Zhiqing said with a blank face.

Pan Luanqing immediately said, "Although the 33rd Regiment is a little difficult, we only have one brigade. We should not only guard against the Seventh Division of the Two Rivers, but also reserve enough troops to block the Anhui troops from the east. Unlike the Anhui counterattack force in the west, which is only the 7th Division of Liangjiang, but the troops from the 4th Division in the east.

"I don't think I need to say more about what kind of unit the Fourth Division is. We must pay enough attention to it!" Pan Luanqing said, "At present, the enemy has not launched a large-scale counterattack, and we still have some time. As long as our artillery units on the north coast are deployed, we can get sufficient artillery support, and it will be much easier to fight!"

The deployment of the artillery force of the Feng army is more difficult than expected. Yesterday, the artillery force of the Feng army was still deployed six or seven kilometers away. Although it went through the maneuver last night and this morning, it did not walk much at night. When it was almost on the shore, it was found that the soil was more muddy and there were many fires. The wheels of the gun rack were deeply immersed in the mud. No matter how much the horse was dragged, it could not be pulled out. Finally, a large number of soldiers had to be drawn to help.

However, if the artillery to be deployed by the Feng army is only one or two, then the problem is not big, but the key is that the artillery needs to be deployed in front of dozens of the artillery!

In order to provide sufficient artillery support to the 17th Brigade on the south bank to alleviate the disadvantage of the 17th Brigade's lack of troops and shortage of ammunition, the Fourth Army gathered all the field artillery. Not only the two field artillery battalions of the 9th Division itself, but also a field artillery battalion of the 14th Division was also transferred. Three battalions were Forty-eight doors.

Although these 75mm field guns don't seem to be big, they are actually not light in weight. They are all about one ton, and they are maneuvering on the muddy field, which is unbearably slow.

In addition, the artillery troops of the Feng army also encountered another problem, that is, the pre-calculated artillery positions are soft, and the artillery positions need a solid and stable flat ground, which forces the Feng army to spend a lot of time building artillery positions.

This pile added up, which caused great trouble for the front of the artillery of the Feng army. It was scheduled to be arranged before 12 noon, but now it is 14 o'clock in the afternoon. The Feng army has only successfully prepared the artillery of one battalion, and the artillery of the other two battalions are still behind.

Dense artillery support is the key to whether the 17th Brigade can defend the beachhead position!

Before the artillery on the north coast was fully prepared, the situation of Pan Luanqing's 17th Brigade could be said to be very unoptimistic.

"The 7th Division of Liangjiang in the west has gradually gathered the main force. Brigadier, do you think it's okay to transfer two battalions from my regiment to reinforce the 33rd Regiment and leave a battalion here ready for something unexpected?"

Pan Luanqing did not answer immediately, but turned his head and asked, "How many scouts will be sent to the east?" Haven't you heard back yet?"

Qu Zhiqing said, "We have sent nine scouts to the east, all of whom are the most elite scouts selected by the military from the whole army, but there is still no news back!"

In order to support the intelligence collection ability of the 17th Brigade after crossing the river, Meng Enyuan specially ordered to select more than a dozen of the most elite cavalry from the cavalry regiments and battalions of the 9th Division, 14th Division and the 1st Mixed Brigade. The horses of these cavalry and messengers were sent across the river, but the Fourth Army pulled several large ships to transport the horses across the river. At present, in the river crossing force, even the mounts of Pan Luanqing, a senior general, have not been brought across the river, let alone other middle and lower-level officers. At present, only the mounts of commanding soldiers and scouts have crossed the river with the troops.

Pan Luanqing said, "In this case, please remain vigilant in the east now. Your 34th Regiment is ready to dispatch a battalion to support the 33rd Regiment and send another battalion eastward."

Pan Luanqing's current available strength is only six infantry battalions. Now the four are ready to be placed on the western front and only one battalion on the eastern front. As for the remaining battalion is the last reserve in his hand, and this reserve must not be used until the most critical moment.

After Pan Luanqing made this decision, the 2nd Battalion of the 34th Regiment quickly followed the order to go to the People's Head Rock on the Eastern Front to reinforce the 33rd Regiment!

As the 17th Brigade was deploying its troops, on a small hill outside the human head rock in the west of Ma'anshan, a group of senior officers of the Anhui army wearing dark blue military uniforms also held binoculars to observe the Feng army troops in the direction of the human head rock.

Lei Zhenchun wears the dark blue generals of the old Beiyang era and wears the epaulettes of the army, but his lieutenant general, like the rank of many generals such as the Anhui army and the Jin army, is privately taught by warlords. His rank in the military department of the Beijing Army is the major general of the army, and this young general is At the end of 1906, Wang Yingkai, Duan Qirui, Zhao Dongyun, Wang Shizhen and others reached a secret agreement and were awarded by other warlord generals. As for Zhao Dongyun, when Zhao Dongyun took charge of the capital, Zhao Dongyun would naturally not give any medals to Lei Zhenchun and others.

Therefore, most of the contemporary warlord generals other than the Feng army have two military ranks, one is the rank privately granted by local warlords, and the other is the rank officially registered in the Military Department of the Army.

Lei Zhenchun served as the commander of the Second Division of the Liangjiang Army last year. After the Battle of Jiangbei, the Second Division of the Liangjiang Army was defeated and even be completely annihilated. However, Duan Qirui also knew that it was not Lei Zhenchun that the second division was defeated, so after the second division was defeated, Lei Zhenchun was not neglected, but was directly transferred to Gangcheng. The seventh division of Liangjiang is the head of the division.

Standing around Lei Zhenchun are naturally the officers of the Seventh Division of Liangjiang.

These people all observed the Feng army on the head rock a few kilometers away with binoculars. After a long time, they put down the binoculars one after another.

Lei Zhenchun said, "The troops are almost ready. First, send a battalion to test their firepower, and then let the rear artillery troops prepare to cover the artillery at any time!"

Although Lei Zhenchun had seven or eight thousand troops at this time, in the first battle of Jiangbei, the strong fighting power of the Feng army had a profound impact on him. In addition, when he knew that he was facing the ninth division, one of the three main forces of the Feng army, he was more cautious and did not rush to launch it because his troops surpass the other side. Attack.

Under the order of Lei Zhenchun, the Wan army soon came out with a battalion!

Fang Qingkun also saw the Feng army launching an attack at this moment. Naturally, he, who was experienced in combat, knew that this should be the enemy's firepower testing force, so he immediately said, "If you pass the order, don't fire without authorization. Put it in for me. After hitting the first wave of heavy machine guns, you immediately transfer the position!"

With the two sides' combat orders issued one after another, the front-line troops of the two sides soon launched the first exchange of fire!

The sound of gunfire and explosions once again sounded over this small head rock!