The battle of Mongcheng was more thorough, and the army besieging Mongcheng had only one cavalry regiment, and the commander had to give up the pursuit of the cavalry troops and take a complete encirclement. At the end of the two-day battle, the Mengcheng Huai army was able to escape from the generals to the soldiers. In addition to the besieged Suzhou, only Wuyang and Haozhou are still in the hands of the Huai army in Huaibei. The situation was very advantageous in the face of the Guangfu army, and the Huai army was almost exhausted.

The news of the loss of Fuyang and Mengcheng soon reached Jiang Zhongjun, who did not feel the danger at this time, but could almost see the inevitability of destruction. Liu Kunyi could only hope that the Guangfu Army would only move relative to Suzhou, but now he has wilted like a frosted eggplant. The two looked at the map, and there were not many choices they could make now, relying on the few remaining cities to fight a few urban offensive and defensive battles with the Restoration Army, or a fateful field battle with the Liberation Army.

"Or let's rescue Dashuai, and then go to Henan to join Zeng Guofan and them?" Liu Kun said in a difficult voice.

Indeed, this is also an option. But Jiang Zhongjun didn't answer immediately, if the purpose of the Liberation Army was only Huaibei, it still made sense to do so. But is that really the purpose of the Liberation Army? The Huai army, which was lucky enough to escape from Fuyang and Mengcheng, reported that the Guangfu army mobilized 100,000 troops to besiege the two places. Jiang Zhongjun didn't believe this, but he thought that it was more reliable for the Guangfu Army to mobilize a total of 100,000 people to deal with Huaibei.

In fact, the Liberation Army dispatched four armies, with a total of 72,000 troops, which was really a "small battle" in the eyes of the Liberation Army, which had millions of troops. At least that's what Weeser thinks. After all, the Crimean War, the Austro-Prussian War, and the Franco-Prussian War that had not yet started in this era all mobilized nearly a million or even millions of troops. But for China, especially for the Manchu Qing Dynasty, not to mention one side, when the total number of troops invested by both sides exceeds 100,000, it is a real war of annihilation.

Jiang Zhongyuan was loyal to the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and Jiang Zhongjun was only loyal to his brother Jiang Zhongyuan. In Jiang Zhongjun's view, if the Manchu Qing lost Huaibei, Hebei, Henan, Shandong, and Shanxi and were driven out of the Guan, then the Manchu Qing would have run out of energy. He didn't have the consciousness to bury the Manchus at all.

It's just that if you don't serve the Manchus, where can you go in this world? The Guangfu Army sent Mrs. Chen to Huaibei, of course, to reunite the Jiang family. But the Jiang family has never been able to return to their hometown in Hunan since then, and there is no one in his hometown anymore. It is not a good choice to surrender to the Guangfu Army obediently, the Guangfu Army hated the Han people who served the Manchu Qing Dynasty very much, few Han officials were able to hold on to the present, not to mention whether the Guangfu Army would spare the Jiang family, thinking about the humiliation to suffer after surrendering, Jiang Zhongjun felt that death had become less terrible.

Liu Kunyi didn't think that far, he said: "If we don't do it now, Wei Ze is afraid that he will call from Fuyang and Mengcheng." At that time, we were divided into two, and even Suzhou could not be saved. We...... We can't ignore the handsome! ”

The leader of the Huai army is Jiang Zhongyuan, and if Jiang Zhongyuan dies, the Huai army will also collapse. Without the big tree of Jiang Zhongyuan, even if the Huai army fled to Henan to join Zeng Guofan, now these people can only be Zeng Guofan's subordinates, or they are completely looked down upon. Those days were terrible.

"Will Big Brother go?" Jiang Zhongjun asked Liu Kunyi.

Liu Kun was stopped by this question, will Jiang Zhongyuan, who has a strong personality, use escape to deal with this ending that will be destroyed no matter what? Except for a very short period of time, Huaibei has been the front line of the imperial court for more than ten years, no matter how difficult the situation is, Jiang Zhongyuan has never said a word "withdraw". If you don't retreat, you will die now, and retreating will only postpone death for a few years, Liu Kun can't see that Jiang Zhongyuan has the possibility of retreating.

"If it really doesn't work, we will take the handsome away even if we tie it up! If Dashuai doesn't leave, there is no point in us going north. Liu Kunyi said with difficulty.

Jiang Zhongjun just nodded, but didn't say anything more. At this time, many words were so clear to Ben that he didn't need to say anymore, and if he made them clear, it would only make him feel more desperate. Jiang Zhongjun asked his soldiers to gather the generals, and during the waiting period of more than half an hour, Jiang Zhongjun sat on a chair like a wood carved clay sculpture without saying a word.

After the generals arrived, Jiang Zhongjun only said one sentence, "I'll wait for tomorrow to send troops to rescue Suzhou." ”

After finishing speaking, Jiang Zhongjun saw that all the generals had frightened expressions on their faces, and he was furious. Huo Ran got up from the chair, Jiang Zhongjun shouted: "At this time, waiting for death is also death, what will happen to you at that time?" Zeng Guofan's younger brother Zeng Guohua has been arrested for a few years, and Wei Ze hasn't killed him yet! Do you think Weser will let you go? ”

Being shouted angrily like this, the generals of the Huai army came to their senses a little, and they hurriedly asked: "Are we reinforcing Suzhou and guarding the city of Suzhou?" Or come back after rescuing the big handsome? ”

Jiang Zhongjun knew that these generals didn't want to stick to Suzhou at all, as long as they weren't fools, they could figure it out that sticking to Suzhou was a dead end. This is not the time of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, the imperial court is still firmly in control of the north, and after Huaibei is attacked, it is finally possible to expect reinforcements. At present, the four provinces north of Huaibei are also in flames of war, and Huaibei even has to support the north in terms of personnel and food.

"I'll withdraw after rescuing the big handsome! But without the commander leading us, what do you think we will do? This possibility deeply tortured Jiang Zhongjun, so he did not hesitate to let the generals of the Huai Army feel the same torture together.

Sure enough, the faces of the generals of the Huai army changed greatly, and the original fear of war was eliminated a lot. They all said: "I will definitely rescue Dashuai!" ”

After getting the news that the Huai army had sent troops from Wuyang, the Guangfu troops in Fuyang and Mengcheng were relieved. Knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent is a very difficult thing to do, because the thinking of the two sides is very different, and it is often difficult for the strong to predict the actions of the weak.

The Liberation Army is a whole, and when faced with such a situation, there are no more than two choices: to withdraw from Anhui in a big way, and at the same time to induce the enemy to disperse its forces while gathering its own troops. If the enemy pursues, it will naturally hit the troops in Henan and other places to destroy the enemy's advance forces, and at the same time use the ability to maneuver into the enemy's rear to destroy. This is the battle theory of the PLA's movement warfare, which was also implemented in the Liberation Army after Wei Ze's inheritance.

The Qing army itself did not have a unified army system, and naturally did not have a basis for implementing such a firm strategy and tactics. Happy families are all the same, and unhappy families have their own misfortunes. It is difficult for the Liberation Army to predict what kind of stupid things the Qing Army will do. Now that the encirclement is about to become a reality, the Liberation Army is relieved.

The reconnaissance unit soon discovered that the Huai army had sent about 10,000 troops this time, and what was even more amazing was that the troops of 10,000 people were divided into two and rushed to Suzhou by two routes, north and south. The two armies of the Anhui Military Region almost didn't burst their stomachs with laughter at this time. The Huai army may have thought that the division of troops into two routes could disperse the actions of the Guangfu army, so that the Guangfu army was also forced to divide its troops. It's completely impossible.

"Surround and annihilate their southern road!" The two military commanders who participated in the meeting said almost in unison.

The military meeting before the battle was quite democratic, the participants were able to speak, and after the two commanders had finished speaking, no one raised any objections, and everyone smiled. The difficulty of annihilating 5,000 people is more than half the difficulty of annihilating 10,000 people, at least a third or even a quarter smaller.

One of the basic military theories of the Liberation Army is "No matter how many ways you come, I will go all the way!" "Concentrate superior forces to fight a war of annihilation!" The Huai army itself let the Guangfu Army give full play to its advantages, and it is really unreasonable to entertain the Huai Army well.

The leader of the South Route was Liu Kunyi, and the idea of dividing the troops into two roads was put forward by Liu Kunyi, and the marching speed of the two roads was relatively fast, and once it approached Suzhou, the South Route Army would automatically turn into a rear guard to resist the possible attack of the Guangfu Army. And Jiang Zhongjun on the North Road made every effort to save Suzhou, breaking a gap as much as possible and taking out the Huai army in Suzhou.

In order to formulate this exquisite tactic, Liu Kunyi can be said to have exhausted his wit, and his hair has been boiled white. After walking out for more than 50 miles from Wuyang, Tanma suddenly came to report that the cavalry brigade of the Guangfu Army appeared in the north. Although the soldiers are divided into two roads, the distance between the two roads is only more than 30 miles. Why did the cavalry of the Liberation Army appear quietly? The horses of the Liberation Army have wings?

It didn't take long for the Huai army to probe the horses and report again, and a large number of cavalry of the Guangfu Army also appeared on the back road of the Huai army. It was hot, and after marching for a while, Liu Kun was sweating profusely at this time. The situation of the semi-encirclement of the Guangfu army has been formed, and he now suddenly feels that the number of 5,000 troops is too small, and the Guangfu army claims to have 100,000 soldiers and horses!

"Lord Liu! What to do? The voices of the generals next to him trembled. The advantage of the cavalry lies in mobility, and if the Huai army turns back to attack the cavalry of the Guangfu Army, it is equivalent to rushing into the encirclement network by itself. The Guangfu Army was originally located in the south of the Huai Army, and the only direction where the enemy did not appear was in front.

"Hold on! Please come to the rescue immediately! Liu Kunyi made a painful decision. Huaibei is a plain area, and the speed of the cavalry on the plain is compared, but I am afraid that the troops will disperse as soon as they run. It is likely that the infantry of the Liberation Army will be waiting for them, but this is better than being chased to death by cavalry on the plains.

In less than an hour, the Huai army finally rushed out a hollow phalanx derived from foreign teachings, with the cannon in the center and the infantry forming a four-sided phalanx outside. As soon as the formation was set, the infantry of the Liberation Army appeared on the horizon. R1058