271 will never waver.

Under the night, Yang Fan quietly came to the Jiujiang front line.

Jiujiang, for him, an army commander, is not a place to stay. It is only a few dozen kilometers away from the Jinguan Bridge battlefield. The rumble of gunfire in front of it is faintly audible day and night. Near Jiujiang, there are often Beiyang army troops scattered by Chenglian and battalions.

But Yang Fan didn't pay attention to these. This is his professional habit, and being on the front line is also the professional habit of every senior general of the National Revolutionary Army.

Whenever there is a big war or a fierce battle, Yang Fan always has to run forward and likes to go to the position to have a look. He likes to listen to the rumble of gunfire, which is exciting, and he also likes to smell the slightly pungent smoke.

Perhaps because of this, the generals of the National Revolutionary Army are often awarded the title of "War Maniac".

Yang Fan went to the front line of Jiujiang today. He wanted to see how Zhang Xueyou and Li Ming were defeated by their old classmates Sun Chuanfang.

In the temporary command post of the Jiujiang Front Line, Yang Fan stood solemnly by the table, motionless. His chief of staff and several chiefs were restless in the outer room. For more than 10 consecutive days, the commander-in-chief has been in a bad mood. Yang Fan, who had always been resolute and happy and angry, roared at the staff officers in the military headquarters a few days ago, which was unprecedented in the past. Yang Kun, the chief of staff who had always accompanied him and participated in the whole early battle, knew his officers's troubles.

Yang Fan was distressed and anxious about the failure of the attack, and the navy and air force and some of the main forces were divided into Hukou to land.

The roads, bridges, stations and docks east of the Jiujiang River are full of chaotic marching troops.

There is nothing wrong with the forward route and deployment formulated by the headquarters, and Yang Kun, the chief of staff, knows best.

But in the Yangtze River Basin in July and August, there is a scorching sun and a continuous rain. The badness of the marching road, the annoying plum rain and heat, the time-consuming crossing of the river, and the chaos of logistical supplies, as if they deliberately couldn't get along with Yang Fan's tens of thousands of troops. In addition, cholera, malaria and other most terrifying infectious diseases on the battlefield are rampant. Before the war began, the field hospital was full of wounded, sick officers and soldiers, and many people died on the sickbed every day. Tiredness and death make people miserable. The urgency of the officers and soldiers to fight in Wuchang has long disappeared. Complaints and negative morale began to appear in the army, which was obviously a big taboo for pre-war soldiers.

What they need most at this time is a hearty victory to boost morale. At this time, they can see the viciousness of General Li's strategic vision. If the Hukou landing is successful, not only the National Revolutionary Army of the Nanxun Line will be excited, but also a heavy heart blow to the Beiyang Army, which is desperately resisted by the Nanxun Line!

Yang Kun suggested: "It's better to let the troops rest for a few days to adjust the chaotic logistical supplies. After the successful landing at Hukou, it is not a better time to launch an attack.

"No way!" Yang Fan refused, and his attitude was very resolute: "Never stop! And the troops should accelerate their concentration in Jiujiang. In terms of Jiujiang, the Beiyang army must not have a chance to breathe. The success or failure of the landing at Hukou also attracts the attention of the Beiyang army.

Yang Fan also has the arduous task of echoing the landing at the mouth of the lake. He is a real professional soldier. He knew that if he gave the Beiyang Army one more day, the difficulty of his attack would increase by one point, and the cost of casualties in the future would be one point higher. At present, the National Revolutionary Army is difficult, and Yuan Shikai in Beijing is also difficult. The military confrontation is not only stronger than strength and wisdom, but more than will to a certain extent.

Yang Fan trusts the "strategic vision" of Marshal Li very much. He said, "I think it's difficult to make up my mind now, but I think the guards can survive."

"What's the reason...based on..."

He shouted out of the teachers, and then whispered something.

"The reason is that the defense of the Beiyang Army has gradually shrunk in a few days, and I think it will be the same this time."

"Is this the reason? It's your wishful guess, isn't it?"

"Isn't this the same as fortune-telling?"

The venue was intertwined with criticism and sarcasm. The generals of the guards were all unruly characters, and the discussion continued in the noise.

"Because I believe in Marshal Li's judgment! He has been leading us to victory! It's the same this time. He will guide us to create new glory!" Yang Fan suddenly patted the table and said.

The venue was quiet and the wind in the night sky outside could be heard. Marshal Li has been leading them to create miracles. "Marshal Li" is like full of magic, and there is really no need to explain. With such superstition, they wishfully believe that the miracle is the direction guided by Marshal Li.

In fact, they all know that the inside story of the Beiyang Army is also very cruel.

Since the war, we have captured 1,753 people of the Beiyang Army. According to their confessions, it is speculated that the strength of the Beiyang Army on the Nanxun Line is "12 infantry divisions, 1 armored division, and the actual strength is 82,590 people". In fact, even if it is a little more than this, it is not much.

You should know that none of the 11,000 divisions in the Beiyang Army is full. The 6th Division has 10,000 personnel, the 7th Division has 9,000 personnel, the 9 personnel of the 9th Division,350 personnel, and the 13th Division has a large number of personnel. The 7th Division and the 9th Division are newly formed troops. They arrived at the front line on August 15 and 25 respectively, and the training level is not high. The other 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12 and 15 divisions are almost 5-7 thousand, and they have also been greatly supplemented.

From the beginning of the battle against Nanxun, the Beiyang army resisted desperately, but also paid a considerable price of blood and strength, and it was extremely difficult to replenish. Water traffic is already in the hands of the National Revolutionary Army. The Beiyang Army only has a land supply line, but the land traffic across the water network is often bombed by the National Revolutionary Army aircraft. This is the first time that the Beiyang army has lagged behind the enemy in terms of equipment, and it is the first time that it has tasted the bitter fruit of the modern war. The Beiyang Army could only use the gap between the bombing and the night to launch about 300,000 people for the human transportation of materials and equipment, and could barely keep up with the ammunition of small firepower such as rifles.

According to a comprehensive analysis of the prisoners' confessions, it can be judged that the Beiyang army's shells are insufficient, the rifles can only meet one-third of the demand, the fuel is very tight, and there is no clothing supplies. What is particularly difficult is food.

Although the Beiyang Army adopted the barbaric and cruel policy of "using war to support the war and searching for food supplies from the enemy for ten days", it was just that it was impossible to collect more food from Jiangxi during the peak of summer.

Moreover, the Beiyang army carried out massacres in Jiangxi, which is very unpopular with the people. The hatred of the people of Jiangxi for the Beiyang Army, which is worried about the northern accent, is also an important reason for the difficulty of the Beiyang Army to collect food.

In a word, the Beiyang army facing the Nanxun line of Jinguan Bridge is close to the limit because of fatigue and hunger.

However, under such circumstances, the Beiyang Army still built a tenacious defense. It may be said that I have to resist desperately.

Compared with the unsatisfactory internal situation of the Beiyang Army, the National Revolutionary Army is increasingly strong. Hubei District is a huge rear base, and materials can be transported to Jiujiang without limit.

After a few arguments, the hot-tempered generals were frustrated in the first battle, and everyone calmed down.

"In response to the landing at Hukou, we must attract the attention of the Beiyang Army on the Nanxun Line!" Yang Fan said forcefully.

......

The weather in Beijing is also sultry.

The Supreme Command of Zhongnanhai Presidential Palace is very optimistic about Sun Chuanfang's success on the Nanxun Line, and is thinking about how to carry out a counterattack in Jiangxi to kill the "bandit army".

Lei Zhenchun, who mastered the intelligence department, did not have the optimism of Jiang Baili, a bricklayer who talked about soldiers on paper. He sneered and said, "A lot of information obtained from Wuchang shows that the 'bandit army' is actively preparing for the attack in the near future, and is likely to carry out landing operations behind the side of our army, and the location is likely to be at the mouth of the lake."

Everyone was shocked by this amazing word.

"Why do you infer this?" The arrogant Jiang Baili asked rhetorically.

"Hukou is the gateway to Jiangxi. The occupation of Incheon can directly hit Seoul, cut off the logistics supply line of our army in one fell swoop, and at the same time, it can echo the bandits outside Nanxun's defense. In addition, intelligence shows that the bandit army has been very active at the mouth of Poyang Lake recently.

"This is just a trick." Jiang Baili sneered and said, "The best trick of the bandit army is in the battlefield of the Central Plains and the battlefield in southern Jiangxi. This move hits the east and west, surrounds Wei to save Zhao, and makes you play around. I didn't expect you will be fooled today."

Yuan Shikai's head nodded frequently, and Yuan Keding was proud that the love he promoted would suppress the old Beiyang people.

Lei Zhenchun and other old Beiyang people feel very boring.

"How many bandits are there? There are 70,000 in northern Jiangxi and 30,000 in southern Jiangxi, but we have an army of 300,000. Is the madman Li really crazy? With this, do you still want to 'encircle' us? You are really afraid of being beaten by the madman Li. You can't see that the madman Li set out to land at the mouth of the lake, that is, to attract you stupid people to be fooled, and then pull the front-line military force of Gannan and Nanxun to shrink back, so that he can break our defense line. Jiang Baili showed his sharpness and continued to hit him in the face. The more crazy Li is, the more we can see that the crazy man Li is not strong, which is the best time for us to counterattack.

"The problem is where to counterattack?" Yuan Keding also wanted to show off a little bit of his study abroad in Germany: "Generally speaking, most of the counterattack against multiple enemies choose one wing. If you are happy and attack the middle road rashly, the momentum will be used by the enemy to stretch out both wings to surround the counterattack troops.

At this moment, the command is following this idea to choose a counterattack plan. On the huge battle map of the command department, the situation of the enemy and us is clear at a glance.

Yuan Keding pointed to the map with a crutch and said, "Attack the 2nd Division of the North Road Guards? The "bandit army" leaned on the Yangtze River to the right, and the left was close to the 1st Division of the Guards. It was a bit of a tiger to attack it, and there was nowhere to go. Attack in the middle? That will be a dead end. So how about the South Road? There seems to be a door. Although the 3rd Division of South Road is adjacent to the 1st Division of the Middle Road, under the order of Yang Fan's roundabout landing, it has penetrated into the southwest of Ruichang and distanced itself from the 1st Division, forming a certain degree of protrusion. Its front, especially both sides, are under the threat of our Beiyang army. In particular, the troops of the 1st Regiment in the De'an area of the Nanxun Line are in an excellent position to flank the 27th Division. Yes! It's the 27th Division!"

Yuan Keding finally shouted and bucketed his crutches on the map, almost making a hole in the map.

"The old man's idea coincides with me." Jiang Baili was very satisfied with Yuan Keding's sharp vision.

Yuan Shikai was very relieved to see that his baby son was finally promising.

Jiang Baili has long been determined to put the counterattack in the direction of Ruiwu Road. Jiang Baili formulated a counterattack plan. He demonstrated on the map and explained: "The Nanxun front should try its best to maintain the current situation, and must ensure the key lines of De'an, Luxi, Xintanpu, Tongshan and Tingsiqiao. In order to maintain the rear of the whole army and make it easy to fight later, it is especially necessary to break through the west enemy of Ruiwu Road and Mushigang. Sun Chuanfang personally commanded a total of 14 divisions including Meng Zhaoyue and Zhang Yunpeng, and quickly broke through the invading enemy on both sides of the Ruiwu Highway to stop the enemy's detour and take advantage of the enemy's inrush to attack to the north.

In this way, the plan was quickly formulated at the scene of the champion of the Japanese non-commissioned officer school, and President Yuan Shikai made a final determination.

The staff officers sorted out the plan into a text, and Yuan Shikai instructed on the plan: "It can be done. Copy a copy and submit it for reference. Shi Kai."

Talking about a few plain words is doomed to Yuan Shikai's arrogance and suffer a lot.

Li Chun and Duan Zhigui, located in Nanchang, were also shocked when they received an urgent call from the command department.

Counterattack? Is this the strategy of "Zhao Kuo" talking about soldiers on paper?

However, Sun Chuanfang is the right to take over Wang Zhanyuan's military power, and Wang Zhanyuan is completely finished.

Li Chun and Duan Zhigui asked Sun Chuanfang to immediately rush to Wuning and take over the command of the counterattack of Ruiwu Road from the newly edited 2nd Army in Jiangxi.

This is not the first time that Sun Chuanfang has exercised partial command power in place of Wang Zhanyuan's Second Army. Wang Zhanyuan actually appreciates Sun Chuanfang very much. The Second Army has always been his hand covering the sky. However, as early as after the loss of Jiujiang, he ordered the 1st and 2nd armies of Jiangxi: "From now on, Commander-in-Chief Sun Chuanfang will be in charge, and Commander-in-Chief Wang Zhanyuan will be transferred to Han."

These two alternations are purely a disguised derogatory to Wang Zhanyuan, and definitely not a favor for Sun Chuanfang. This is Yuan Keding suppressing the disobedient old Beiyang.

Sun Chuanfang immediately sent a series of commands after receiving the call:

Order the 2nd Army troops that have fought against the "bandit army" head-on on Ruiwu Road. Relying on the current position, they try their best to block and delay the progress of the "bandit army" and buy time for the arrival of the 1st Army troops. Order the 1st Army troops that can be transferred from the front line and the rear of the Nanxun line immediately turn to the side of Ruiwu Road and attack the "bandit army" with all their strength. At the same time, it was decided to set up the forward command post in the southwest of De'an.

Deployment is one thing, and implementation is another. The intentions of the two sides are wonderful and grand, but after all, it is only a blueprint in the commander's mind. Whether it can be achieved in the end depends on the fighting of the officers and soldiers on the battlefield. But if you are wrong at the beginning, it will be a tragedy