76 Iron City

In the morning, the weather is fine.

The defenders on Gaolan Mountain poked their heads out of the front trench on the top of the mountain and couldn't help but feel lost. They couldn't imagine what a strange scene it was. The siege tactics of digging trenches and tunnels from attacking targets from thousands of meters away are extremely ancient in the history of human war. Last night, there was no sound of guns during the excavation of the Anxi army. There was silence in the night, but the excavation was carried out on a huge scale. On the open land about 2,000 meters outside the first line of defense in Lanzhou, thousands of soldiers and farmers sweated like rain, but quietly. This is what Li Xiang suddenly remembered last night of the old movie "Liberation of Shijiazhuang" and saw the People's Liberation Army's "transformation of terrain" operation: they dug wide, deep and long tunnels, densely stretched to the front of the Kuomintang garrison, and the soil dug was used to fill the defensive trenches of the defenders. They also need to dig out all kinds of bunkers in the tunnel, dig them into single bunkers, then dig them into wellbore and then pull them out into a T-shaped shape, so that the passageway and bunker are connected to each other. When the tunnel was dug close to the defenders' defensive positions and defensive trenches, they dug out a huge explosive chamber and then put in thousands of kilograms of black explosives. The technicians of the engineering force lie on the tunnel and calculate the thickness of the soil layer and the power of the explosives over and over again to achieve the ideal blasting effect they imagined...

Such a magnificent scene brings a suffocating shock. Someone immediately reported to the promoted general in Lanzhou. Sheng Yun couldn't believe it anyway. When he came to the front in person, he was really shocked. He couldn't figure out what method and how much manpower Li Madman An Xijun used to dig such a dense and long traffic trench on the outside of his first line of defense overnight. What's more frightening is that his troops didn't catch any movement overnight. Knowing that the big deal was not good, he immediately ran back to the headquarters to hold an emergency military meeting.

After listening to Sheng Yun's words, everyone felt that the crisis was urgent.

Chang Geng and Shengyun have lost confidence in relying on Ganqing and Xinmeng, mainly Ganqing to return to the northwest, but they still want to use the return army to fight trapped beasts in the northwest, consume the strength of the Anxi army, and delay the republican process, so as to get a long breathing time, and fantasize that there will be miracles...

However, at the meeting, Ma Fuxiang, Ma Anliang and others, Shengyun and Chang Geng, each had their own ghosts, gossiped, quarreled endlessly, and blamed each other, and shirked the responsibility of losing the northwest battlefield.

Ma Anliang was aggressive from the beginning and preemptively accused Ma Fuxiang: "The fundamental reason for the defeat in the Battle of Pingliang and the Battle of Sanguankou is not the strong strength and strategic strategy of Li Fengzi, but in our internal non-cooperation. Some people ignore the overall situation and hide from the mountains to watch the tiger fight, intending to preserve their strength!"

After saying that, the eyes for help fell on Peng Yingjia's face.

Peng Yingjia is plotting to compete with Zhao Weixi, who was appointed as the governor of Gansu by Yuan Shikai, with the help of Ma Anliang, so Ma Anliang's eyes asked him to help. However, if Peng Yingjia wants the position of governor of Gansu, he has to look at Ma Fuxiang's face. Therefore, on this occasion, he is not only afraid of offending Ma Fuxiang, but also afraid of provoking Ma Anliang, so he plans to have a thin plaster wall. As long as no one embarrasss him, he will wipe both sides.

As soon as Ma Fuxiang heard this, the words were towards him, so he calmed his face, hummed coldly twice, tapped the coffee table with his right middle finger, and said coldly, "Do you want to be held responsible for the defeat in the northwest battlefield? I agree with Brother Ma very much! Some people have always ignored the overall situation, only care about expanding the territory, recruiting and buying horses, and being impulsive and belligerent, only to fall into today's ambush Jedi! As I have said, sticking to Lanzhou, winning is limited to the terrain of Lanzhou. There is no result in counterattacking. There is only one iron bridge of the Yellow River in Lanzhou as a retreat. If there is no disaster, the main force should be withdrawn to the north bank of the Yellow River. Lanzhou on the south bank only takes a consumable resistance and then gives up. The main force is maneuvering along the river on the north bank of the Yellow River, and the Anxi army is in Wherever you cross the river, you can "half-cross"... Humph! If you are belligerent, you will die. If you are blindly brave and fierce, you will accelerate the defeat!"

Ganzhou Admiral Ma Jinxiang also echoed, "I have been in the south for many years, and I have seen the current situation... I have to deal with it carefully."

Ma Fuxiang nodded and talked again in the old tune: "Gansu has financial difficulties and people's livelihood difficulties. It is not appropriate to engage in war anymore. The only current measures are to protect the situation and the people. Send someone out to talk to the madman Li. There's no need to beat you to death..."

"Bum!" Ma Anliang punched the table and interrupted Ma Fuxiang's words. The tea gradually rose from the cup and splashed on the table. He said fiercely, "Who doesn't know? Your son Ma Hongkui joined the League to rebel when he was studying in the martial arts hall in Gansu. Later, he was caught and imprisoned, and later he was smashed. I heard that this little bastard gathered more than 100 students and went to Hubei Surveying and Mapping School to continue reading. More than 100 people participated in the first righteousness of Wuchang. Your precious son is now in the Li Crazy Army! Humph! What are you thinking? I don't know?"

Ma Fuxiang couldn't sit still when he heard this. He found that the cold eyes of Chang Geng and Sheng Yun went straight to his face. It seemed that a cold wind poured down the spine. His face immediately gloomy, and he coughed dryly and said, "Brother, it's too much!"

The title immediately changed from "brother" to "brother". After all, they are all Muslims, and Muslims all over the world are brothers, but how can Ma Anliang eat him now? He was furious and got up and roared, "Fart!"

Ma Fuxiang was so angry that he stood up, poked Ma Anliang with his finger, and asked in a shrill voice, "Grandma, what do you want to do?" His Zhaowu army outside the city is not a vegetarian. At worst, he will turn against Li Madman!

Ma Anliang opened his eyes angrily, with several blue veins on his face, and saliva splashed in his mouth. He forced to ask, "The man surnamed Ma! You...you dare to curse!"

Chang Geng waved his hand, touched his bald forehead, smiled, and mediated, "When is it? You can't pee in a pot. What's the battle?" Then, he touched the braids behind his head, took a look at Ma Anliang, Ma Hongkui, Sheng Yun and others one by one, smiled, and continued to cheer for Ma Anliang and Ma Fuxiang: "It is common for soldiers to win or lose. In the northwest battlefield, although our army suffered several defeats, in general, the situation is still optimistic! It's not so easy for the bandits to take the northwest! Don't forget that Premier Yuan has begun to intervene in the war here..."

Ma Anliang, Ma Fuxiang, Shengyun and others did not have a few smiles on their faces until then. The tense atmosphere in the venue suddenly relaxed, and Chang Geng felt very proud, at least on the surface. He analyzed the current situation and the war situation at the top of his voice, and then said, "In a word, Lanzhou has strong fortifications and the dangerous Yellow River. Our army is concentrated and ammunition is sufficient. After a long journey, the bandit army is short of people and horses, and the rear supply is difficult. Therefore, in the decisive battle in Lanzhou, our army can wait for work with ease, know ourselves and know the enemy, and completely annihilate the main force of the Li madman on the periphery of Lanzhou is just around the corner!"

The meeting plotted the specific strategy and troop deployment of a decisive battle in Lanzhou in the smoke, and repeatedly emphasized sincere unity. Cooperate operations, put the overall situation first, and so on.

Then, Chang Geng announced the Lanzhou decisive battle plan. After reading the order, Chang Geng supported the coffee table with his hands and said very seriously, "The Lanzhou Campaign is actually a decisive battle in the northwest. I hope that the troops participating in the battle will cooperate and strive to eliminate the main force of the madman Li in one fell swoop outside Lanzhou!"

However, after the meeting, Ma Anliang and Ma Fuxiang had their own plans and did their own things.

Ma Fuxiang's background is different from that of Ma Anliang, and his style is also different. Ma Anliang started from the anti-Qing Dynasty, and Ma Fuxiang rose to the throne because of the throne. Ma Fuxiang's father, Ma Qianling, was in the chaos of the Hui people during the reign of Tongzhi, he leaned closer to the government, handled local league training, and protected the countryside. When the Sara people attacked Jishi Pass from Xunhua County, they actively blocked and protected the Han-Tibet villages, and used their own food to help the Han and Tibetan disaster victims, establishing a friendship, which aroused the anger of the anti-Qing Hui people and burned his family's house and family's house. Ma Fuxiang's second brother, Ma Fulu, was a martial artist in the Qing Dynasty, and Ma Fuxiang was a martial artist. Ma Fulu came back from Beijing and asked for a military position under Ma Anliang. He became a "military counselor" in Hezhou's general, Tang Yan and Yamen. In order to repay his kindness, he fought with Ma Anliang and made special efforts in calming down and suppressing the Huizhong. He was trusted by the Qing army and indignant by the Hui people. Ma Fuxiang is honored to have sacrificed his life for the country for his previous team training and the battle of Ma Fulu Gengzi. He is proud of his origin in the first Division and despises Ma Anliang's leaders. During the Revolution of 1911, when Sheng Yun was transferred back to the army to suppress the Shaanxi Uprising, Ma Anliang proposed the candidates for each unification, not to mention Ma Fuxiang. According to Sheng Yun's proposal, Ma Anliang objected and said, "Ma Fuxiang is timid and can't fight." Ma Fuxiang did not want to be under his command and asked himself to stay in Lanzhou. The two horses have been superficialized so far, and it is impossible to take care of each other.

Ma Fuxiang is unwilling to defend Lanzhou. Although Ma Anliang's elite army is strong, after all, there is a huge gap and it is difficult to deal with.

Although Chang Geng and Sheng Yun know their own confidants, they do not know each other. They expected that after the Anxi army took Lanzhou, it would turn east, go out of Tongguan, and enter the Central Plains. It would never go deep into the dry and water-cooled Hexi Corridor, let alone advance to Xinjiang, which is thousands of miles of Gobi. The war will come to an end when it comes to Lanzhou.

So, they fantasized about nourishing themselves in the Hexi Corridor, waiting for the opportunity, and counterattacking.

In order to prevent Ma Anliang from esquished against Hexi, he advocated that Ma Anliang's elite army should independently take on the task of defending Lanzhou, and Ma Fuxiang's Zhaowu army was the general reserve. They think that if they fight according to this plan, it is also because Ma Fuxiang, who has a son from the revolutionary party, is a little afraid to use it.

Sure enough, Ma Fuxiang left without saying goodbye, refused Ma Anliang's invitation to jointly plan and command the battle of Lanzhou, and crossed the Yellow River and went to Qinghai to protect his family.

Sheng Yun has always understood Ma Anliang's utilitarianism and eagerness. At the beginning, he actively advocated the use of troops to attack Shaanxi, believing that it was an opportunity to make contributions to the Qing court, and threatened to "step on the Huayin Temple and burn Chang'an City". So now only by using Ma Anliang to stick to Lanzhou and hoping that Yuan Shikai will take action on the crazy man Li as soon as possible, Lanzhou may defend it.

Shengyun said to Ma Anliang, "Although the madman Li was successful for a while and besieged Lanzhou, he had committed the taboo of being alone and deeply involved. The Beiyang army turned behind and held its back. Our army firmly defended Lanzhou, the camera counterattacked, and the bandit army would be devastated by four-way siege.

These pleasant words in the center made Ma Anliang, who was about to die, happy. He agreed to do it one by one, and was determined to fight desperately with Li Madman in Lanzhou.

Ma Anliang is extremely arrogant. He himself thinks that 'the northwest is mine'. Everything should be dominated by me, and my army should guard my land.

Ma Anliang discriminated against Ma Fuxiang, believing that "Ma Fuxiang is timid and can't fight". He is also afraid that Ma Fuxiang, a son who is a revolutionary, will not work hard for him and easily gives up Lanzhou and demolishes his backstage. If he wants to save the territory of Lanzhou, he thinks that only his own troops are reliable.

Ma Anliang declared in his order to his subordinates: "In order to lure the enemy to fight against the favorable terrain, the department is strictly deployed with natural barriers. If the enemy invades, we will try our best to annihilate it." He threatened that Lanzhou was: "The unbreakable iron city!"