On December 2, the 1st Regiment of Han Linchun's vanguard first attacked and occupied Dengkou.

Shizuizi is close to the west bank of the Yellow River, and Helan Mountain stands in the northwest, and the terrain is quite dangerous, which is conducive to military defense. It was the middle of winter, and the mountains were covered with heavy snow and the rivers were frozen in ice. The "Anxi Army" Ma Longxiang's regiment and the 1st regiment divided their troops into two routes: one went straight to the front of Shizuizi and stormed the position of Ma Baolin's department, and the other road crossed the ice bridge from Hedong at night and attacked Shizuizi suddenly, forcing Ma Baolin's troops to give up the danger and retreat one after another.

From the start of the charge to the completion of the battle, it took less than 2 hours. The Feng army immediately pursued the victory and surrounded Pingluo.

Pingluo is located in the north of Yinchuan City, 120 miles away, the city is small but strong, and most of the residents believe in Islam. Ma Hongkui personally led two cavalry regiments as the general reserve, with one infantry regiment and one artillery battalion, under the command of Chief of Staff Lu Zhongliang to defend Beicheng. He knew that there was no longer a line of defense south of Pingluo, so he encouraged his troops to defend it with dead force. The city has a relatively sufficient reserve of grain, ammunition and other military supplies.

Han Linchun, commander-in-chief of the "Anxi Army", saw that the attack on Pingluo could not be stopped, and Pei Chunsheng, deputy division commander and commander of the 1st Brigade, led three regiments of troops to continue to surround him, and on the 6th of the same month, he led a large army to Ningxia City.

The Ningxia Ma Army, which was originally defending along the northern front, was greatly threatened by the attack of the superior forces of the "Anxi Army", and was afraid of being surrounded and annihilated, so it retreated one after another. In order to consolidate the outer defensive line of Ningxia, Ma Fuxiang strictly ordered the retreating troops to move to the defensive positions around Li Gangbao, and cooperated with the original garrison to resolutely block the advancing "Anxi Army."

When the "Anxi Army" occupied Dengkou, broke Shizui, surrounded Pingluo, and approached the provincial capital of Ningxia, Ma Fuxiang was greatly frightened and wanted to withdraw the 35th Brigade of Ma Hongbin, the main force of the Ningxia Army, to Lingwu, Jinji, Zhongwei and other counties, while the Ma Fushou Garrison Brigade stayed in the provincial capital, and sent a telegram to Zhang Guangjian, the overseer of Gansu, to report that he was in a hurry, and after begging for reinforcements, he would launch an all-out counteroffensive in order to achieve the final goal of expelling or eliminating the "Anxi Army."

But he also considered that if the main force of the 35th Brigade moved back, how could it be held with the strength of the garrison brigade alone? In case the army's heart is shaken, it will be detrimental to the defense of Ningxia, and his beloved son Ma Hongkui is in danger, so he can't be left alone no matter what. However, if they do not withdraw their main forces first, they are deeply afraid of being besieged by the "Anxi Army", and there is also a danger that the grain routes in the rear will be cut off. Therefore, there is a lot of suspicion and fear, and it is difficult to retreat.

At the convening of the military conference, Ma Hongbin advocated that Ningxia should be held with all its might, which could not only stabilize the morale of the army, but also turn the defense into an offensive. When Ma Fuxiang heard this, he cheered up the officers at all levels under his command and said: "Ma Hongkui is still able to hold Pingluo with thousands of soldiers, and I personally lead tens of thousands of elite soldiers, and I have real spare strength to protect Ningxia." The Feng army ventured deep and had no reinforcements, so as long as we fought resolutely, there was hope of a complete victory. ”

Yinchuan City, the capital of Ningxia Province, is 15 miles in circumference, the east and west are longitudinal, the times are from the north and south, the city gate has six, and it is closed day and night. The twin towers are towering and the architecture is magnificent. In the city, it is the West Tower Temple, with 8 corners and 11 floors, made of blue bricks, extremely strong.

Ma Fuxiang moved many precious sundries into the West Tower and sent troops to guard them; On all sides of the city, traffic ditches and shelters were dug, and gun emplacements were installed especially on the north city; Around the city walls, rows of lights were hung with wire every night, and surveillance posts were set up at the head of the city. In addition, along the base of the northern city wall, residents were ordered to dig tunnels, and basements were also built in the headquarters (where the provincial government is located).

Outside the city is the north tower, more than 10 miles away from the city wall, the terrain here is important, and it is the barrier of Ningxia city. Ma Fuxiang also knew that this battle was a life-and-death battle related to whether the Ma family could exist, so he sent his nephew Ma Hongbin to personally lead the 35th Brigade to garrison the whole army, hoping to delay the offensive edge of the "Northwest Army" and buy time for the reinforcements from the provincial capital.

However, how many soldiers and horses can be sent to the provincial capital, Ma Fuxiang does not dare to have too many extravagant hopes: "Anxi Army" is said to be a two-sided attack, and now most of the soldiers and horses in the provincial capital Lanzhou City are transferred to the northwest of Longxi to aid Liangzhou, and it seems that the only thing that can support himself may be the overseer of Shaanxi Chen Shufan. However, since Chen Shufan asked Liu Zhenhua, the commander of the Henan Zhensong Army, to enter Shaanxi to assist in the fight against the Shaanxi Yasukuo Army, his status in Shaanxi was not as good as before because Liu Jiu occupied the magpie's nest.

In addition, Xu Lanzhou, the commander-in-chief of the Gan, Sichuan, and Jin reinforcement armies in Xianyang, was a Feng-related figure, and his command was the division of the Feng-based First Brigade and the allied forces of other provinces were fighting against the Shaanxi Yasukuo Army and "saving" Chen. Ma Fuxiang also sent several telegrams asking for help, but they were all lost.

The "Anxi Army" was fighting in the ice and snow, and with the elongation of the battle line, the logistics gradually became unable to help, and in recent days it was difficult to find even firewood for heating, and many officers and soldiers even started the idea of coffins for dead officers and soldiers!

Zhang Hanqing had nothing to do, seeing that the Ningxia army could not shrink out, he wanted to resist and gain time in space, and if he wanted to attack, he would have to pay a lot of casualties. He has "amazing" insight into the direction of national strategy, but the achievements at the tactical level have been.

One day he was very depressed, squatting in front of the door of the headquarters bedroom, holding his cheeks with both hands, bowing his head and saying nothing, the attendants immediately took pictures, and inscribed "Worried about the country and the people", Zhang Hanqing smiled heartily and laughed at himself: "After reading the photo, instead of inscribed 'worrying about the country and the people', it is better to write 'thinking about his wife and children'." For a while, it was rumored to be an interesting story in the army.

Han Linchun has been in battle for a long time, and he comforted Zhang Hanqing and said: "Young marshal, don't worry, I have planned to use the cavalry regiment of the division to attack the rear of Ningxia Provincial City to cut off the grain route of the Ningxia army, and he will be defeated without a fight." Zhang Hanqing had an idea, and remembered the most admired "siege and reinforcement" trick in the war movies of his previous life: If you don't come out, I will force you out. This is also what the art of war says, 'attack it and save it'!

He pondered for a moment, took the battle map, pointed to Yinchuan City, and said: "I have a way: to besiege the city explicitly, and to ambush the troops in the middle of the road. When the siege is urgent, Ma Hongbin will return to the army to save the city, and our army can be annihilated halfway. Han Linchun praised with his head bowed.

Therefore, the 4th Brigade confronted Ma Hongbin's 35th Brigade at a distance of ten miles north of Yinchuan City, took advantage of the Yellow River freeze, and used the 11th Brigade to run east of the Yellow River at night in Zhaolinbu, bypassing the pass of the Great Wall, and then taking a detour from Hedong to Yinchuan City at night, completing the deployment of personnel overnight and cutting off the connection between the North Tower and Yinchuan.

In the early morning of the next day, the artillery regiment of the division made an artillery feint attack on Yinchuan, and the artillery was bombarded for a while. The division's cavalry regiment broke through the Huinong Canal, captured Wang Hongbao, the key place behind Yinchuan, at a small cost, and completely annihilated a battalion of the defenders, attacking and harassing and guarding against reinforcements behind Ningxia City.

Ma Hongbin heard the rumbling of artillery in the direction of Yinchuan, and the liaison troops he sent there were all gone, and knowing that there was a change---- he never dreamed that the "Anxi Army" would dare to ignore his own existence behind him and take Ningxia City. Between the North Tower and Yinchuan, there is almost no danger to defend, and the enemy army is not worried about fighting back from behind?

However, the situation is stronger than people, and the cannons of the "Anxi Army" can be heard without stopping for a moment, and it seems that it is bound to win after spending blood. He didn't dare to wait and see any longer: the defenders of Yinchuan City only had 2 garrison regiments, so he couldn't think about it too much, so he immediately rushed out of the North Tower with the main force to help in the direction of Yinchuan.

He stepped out on the front foot, and the 4th Brigade of the "Anxi Army" attacked the remnants of the North Tower with one regiment, and followed the attack with the main force of two regiments. Ma Hongbin decided to abandon the North Tower and go all out to defeat the "Anxi Army" attacking Yinchuan City.