Ma Tingxing is also impressed. His soldiers and horses are considered to be more in the Gansu provinces, but compared to the "Anxi Army", which is known as 100,000, he is not an opponent in any way. In the "Northwest Three Horses", Ma Fuxiang, as the envoy of Ningxia, was actually independent of the Gansu overseers militarily and had occupied Ningxia. Ma Qi has taken Qinghai since he built the "Ning Navy", and only he was excluded by the Gansu overseers.

Thinking of the southward advance of the "Anxi Army", he bore the brunt of it. The "Provincial Protection Army" and the "Anxi Army" no matter who killed the deer in the end, they were determined to be buried as a companion. At the moment of the disputes between the princes of all walks of life, the army was exhausted, and his family could be regarded as having no future from now on.

His father, Ma Anliang, had already occupied Qinghai and strongly opposed Yuan Shikai's government appointing Ma Fuxiang as the chief soldier of Xining Town, and the two families had an old rift. Thinking of a long-cherished grudge with Ma Fuxiang, he couldn't help but hesitate again and again, and hesitated about the order to "stick to and wait for help".

Wuwei is located at the eastern end of the Hexi Corridor in Gansu Province, bordering Lanzhou in the east, Jinchang in the west, Qilian Mountains in the south, and Tengger Desert in the north. The west of the city is the Shiyang River, the east of the city is the ancient Great Wall, for a long time, Wuwei is famous for its important geographical location of "passing through the line in the desert, controlling the throat of the five counties", and is known as the "silver Wuwei" of "soldiers and food are always enough, and the war is more profitable".

In history, it is not only an important town on the ancient Silk Road, but also a densely populated and rich area. After the Han cavalry general Huo Qubing pacified Hexi, Wuwei County was set up here. When the Three Kingdoms was renamed Liangzhou, the Sixteen Kingdoms were Liang, Houliang, South Liang, North Liang and other four small dynasties had built their capitals here, Wuwei in the Tang Dynasty was the seat of the Hexi Jiedu envoy, the Liangzhou Mansion was placed in the Qing Dynasty, and now the Wuwei area is set up.

On the 25th, the first brigade of Song Jiuling, the vanguard of the right route army of the "Anxi Army", crossed the Tengger Desert and arrived at the border of Minqin County, and went south along the source of the Shiyang River. The defenders of the place are responsible for Ma Zanshuang, the 3rd Regiment and 1st Battalion of Ma Ting's Division. However, because Ma Tingcheng was concerned about his head and tail, he did not have time to prepare for the battle such as mobilization before the battle. Therefore, Ma Zanshuang only heard that the "Anxi Army" had entered the country, but it has not yet been confirmed. Mazanshuang also received some military training, and in the absence of information, he added two sentry posts and mobile sentry posts as a sign of vigilance.

Regiment Commander Zhao Minggao personally led a battalion as the vanguard of this surprise attack. He was a veteran general of the army, and before the war, he had been instilled by the young marshal with the importance and urgency of this surprise attack. Liangzhou has been a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack since ancient times, if it is attacked by force, even if the artillery fire of the Feng army is sharp, I am afraid that it will also lose the troops and delay the time. The soldiers are fast, and when the Gansu defenders are not ready, he will take Liangzhou in one fell swoop, and he will be the first to take it.

In the early morning, he sent spies to touch out two sentries, and then the command post headquarters surrounded the Ma military camp headquarters.

A hidden sentry was the first to notice the anomaly. He witnessed the bloodshed less than a hundred meters in front of him, and then countless soldiers rushed towards him. He hadn't used his swords for many years, and the soldiers and horses had already been put into storage and the horses had been put in Nanshan. However, at this time, he did something that was extremely wrong in the eyes of Fengjun. He shouted almost reflexively: "Enemy attack! He jumped up and ran backwards.

This sound caused the Ma army to blow up the battalion, and the dedicated sentry immediately lost his life.

Zhao Minggao saw that there was no effect of the surprise attack, and decisively ordered the whole battalion to attack. Ma Jun had just woken up from a dream, his clothes were not possessed, his generals were indistinguishable, and he had no ability to resist. They were already small in numbers (the battalion of the Ma army was still under the old Manchu system, with less than 250 people), and they were taken by surprise and were completely wiped out in a few moments.

Zhao Minggao packed up and surrendered his troops with a company, and the main force did not stop, and went straight down the river, without much obstacle, and after four hours of rapid marching, he arrived at Yangjiaodu, twenty miles north of Liangzhou City, at noon.

The right side of the "Anxi Army" arrived at the city of Liangzhou, and Xining Ma Qi also felt that it was a great disaster, and asked the overseer Zhang Guangjian to mobilize all the forces of the province and actively prepare for battle; On the one hand, he sent a telegram to all units of the "Ning Navy" to go north to Liangzhou to assist Ma Tingxing in making defensive arrangements. Originally, there was a contradiction between the two horses to compete for power, but due to the urgency of the current situation, they had to cooperate with each other.

In addition, Ma Shirong was sent to Ningxia to contact Ma Fuxiang, Ma Hongkui, and Ma Hongbin, and agreed to support each other, but unanimously refused to do so. This is not counting, he also pretended to be in the name of thousands of Mongolian and Tibetan princes in Qinghai, and sent a telegram to the central government to prevent Zhang Hanqing from entering Qinghai. At the same time, they also forced people from all walks of life in Qinghai to hold anti-Zhang rallies and demonstrations to bluff.

But at this time, Ma Fuxiang's uncle and nephew were already too busy to take care of themselves.

The "Anxi Army" pressed the border, and the Ningxia Protector Army made Ma Fuxiang sit on pins and needles, thinking that his family's decades-old foundation would be in danger of being destroyed, so he urgently summoned his sons and nephews Ma Hongkui and Ma Hongbin to discuss the war.

The actual situation of Ningxia's refusal to open up troops and their defensive arrangements: The 35th Brigade of Ma Hongbin's Department (composed of the original 5 battalions) and the 5th Mixed Brigade of Ma Hongkui's Department originally had 3 infantry regiments, 2 cavalry regiments, 1 special service battalion, 1 teaching regiment, 1 artillery battalion, and 1 engineer battalion. Ma Hongkui also ordered the counties to recruit soldiers in the name of refusing Zhang, and also added 2 garrison brigades (equivalent to regiments), which were subordinate to the district security department, and Ma Fushou (Ma Hongkui's uncle) served as the commander of the Yinchuan garrison. Ma Fuxiang, the envoy of the Ningxia Protectorate, is also the commander-in-chief, with a total of more than 22,000 troops. However, the army recruited in this way is a cut short of the regular army in terms of combat ability and quality, let alone the Feng army, which has won consecutive battles.

Ningxia city wall Yinchuan is about 30 miles away from Helan Mountain in the west and the Yellow River in the east. Stretching the plain, around the suburbs, there are many fortresses; The west of the city is bordered by the Tang Lai Canal, and the east of the city is connected with the two canals of Hanyan and Huinong. The Ningxia defenders took advantage of the above-mentioned terrain and forts to form suburban defensive positions. South of the city through Wanghong Fort, Yanghe Fort, Dam Fort, Guangwu City, Shikong Fort to Zhongwei County, a total of 360 li; The north of the city passes through Xiejiabao, Ligangbao, Pingluo County, Huangquqiao, Shizuizi to Dengkou County, totaling 220 miles.

On November 26, Ma Fuxiang convened a meeting of the commanders and above of the garrison corps in Ningxia to make a meeting on operational deployment, and in order to cheer up his subordinates, Ma Fuxiang compared the strength of the two sides and said: "The main purpose of refusing Zhang is to defend Ningxia. As long as the soldiers use their lives and the people yearn for it, our army will win this battle for the following reasons: first, our army can get grain on the spot, and it is not easy for the other army to transport it over long distances; Second, most of the Ningxia army are native people, and they have the responsibility to defend the territory, and their morale is available; Third, our army occupies an advantageous area, and it is easy to replenish the supply of troops. In the end, he said teasingly: "I don't believe that the Northwest Army is led by a Huangkou child, which will make us Ningxia Jian'er bend our waists!" As long as they stick to the important places, they will not be able to conquer the pass in the short term, and the winter in the north of the country will kill them! ”

He decided to concentrate superior forces and stick to several strategic points, so he made a posture of stubborn defense.

The "Anxi Army" pressed from the north to the south, and Shizuishan was the first dangerous pass. Shizuizi is close to the west bank of the Yellow River, Helan Mountain stands in the northwest, the terrain is quite dangerous, conducive to military defense, Ma Fuxiang decided to defend with Ma Baolin, deputy commander of the 5th Mixed Brigade, personally led two infantry regiments. Ma Baolin is known for her courage in the Ningxia Army, and she is guarding according to danger, and it should not be a problem to support her for ten days. As long as they are given a chance to breathe, the troops in the Gansu provincial capital and the defenders of Pingliang and Tianshui towns can be gradually reinforced, and the situation will change for the better.

After the meeting, in the name of protecting the local foreign merchants and wealthy households, he demanded a huge amount of money for military salaries, so that the soldiers risked their lives to obey their orders, and no changes occurred. At the same time, he also asked the imams of the mosque to agitate to the Hui people: "Zhang Hanqing is leading his troops to the west today, not only to conquer the city, but also to kill the Muslims and exterminate the religion." Only by working together can the city be protected from massacres."

Looking through the military history of China, the contest between the Central Plains and the nomads outside the Saiwai has always ended in the defeat of the Central Plains. More of it is that the original dynasty was pressed and beaten by the northern barbarians, fortified everywhere, and relied on the city to be safe, so that there was the Great Wall.

Time passed, and the Anxi army followed the footsteps of their ancestors to attack from the outside to the inside, which gave the psychological advantage of the Ningxia defenders the upper hand. However, under modern military conditions, those low earthen walls are not vulnerable at all, and Zhang Hanqing is confident about this.

In his previous life, he once traveled to the northwest at his own expense, and under the dilapidated ancient Great Wall, there were one section of ruins one after another. That's because after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the Manchu and Mongolian families, the original Great Wall outside the Saiwai Dynasty was already in the inner part of the Qing Dynasty's territory, and it lost the significance of repair. After two hundred years, its rupture can be known.

It is the so-called fortress, under the bombardment of modern artillery, how many can it be called? As long as there are no mistakes in strategy and tactics, the so-called courage can only create greater brilliance on the strong side. Otherwise, the development of the world's military equipment will not be transformed into modern science and technology at a rapid pace.

For this battle, Zhang Hanqing has prepared enough homework. The northwest is vast and sparsely populated, and the roads are in extremely poor condition, making it more difficult for traditional artillery to march than for infantry. For this reason, most of the mortars produced by the Shenyang Arsenal were transported to the Anxi Army from the rear.

You must know that in 1920, the official history of the Feng Department was the first to incorporate mortars into the army in the form of regulations, and the infantry and cavalry regiments had a mortar company (6 pieces), which set a precedent for the large-scale use of mortars in China. In the era of Zhang Hanqing, the mortar production capacity of the Shenyang Arsenal has been greatly improved, and the current annual output of 150 is not a problem, as long as the time is given, the output will be doubled.

Therefore, each regiment in the Anxi army has added a mortar company, but the number is 9 guns.

In order to break the fighting spirit of the Ningxia defenders and publicize the idea of the "Anxi Army", Zhang Hanqing mimeographed thousands of copies of the "Letter to the Northwest Compatriots", criticizing the Ma Fuxiang group: "The other generation controls the territory, is brutal and unkind, uses people to act, and specializes in four same: one must have the same surname, that is, Ma, and non-Ma does not like it; Second, it is necessary to be of the same clan, that is, to return, not to return to relatives; Third, it should be the same river, that is, the river state, not the river is different; Fourth, we should teach together, that is, Islam (Islam), and do not believe in non-religion. He claimed that the "Anxi Army" should build a prosperous, strong, and civilized new northwest with the program of "three dishes of righteousness."