After 20 days of repairs in Xi'an, the New First Army set off again. This time, it is along the route map of the ancient Silk Road, advancing towards Xinjiang through the Hexi Corridor.

The second master ordered the troops, turned a corner, and advanced towards Hezhou, Gansu, on the grounds that Hezhou was the closest to the Hanzhong collection point, and it was also the necessary place to enter Xinjiang, and his second master wanted to go and see it.

In fact, the second master went to the base camp of the Ma Jiajun in Hezhou.

The Hexi Corridor is located between the Qilian Mountains and the Beishan Mountains in the northwest of Gansu Province, also known as the Gansu Corridor. It is about 1200 kilometers long from east to west and about 100~200 kilometers wide from north to south.

Geographically, it includes the five cities of Hexi in Gansu Province: Wuwei, Zhangye, Jinchang, Jiuquan and Jiayuguan.

However, this only way to enter Xinjiang has not been peaceful for a long time, because it is the ancient Silk Road, and merchants must go through the road to do business. Therefore, on this road, horse bandits are rampant, and bandits are everywhere.

During the period of the Republic of China, in the Gansu, Ning, and Qinghai regions in the northwest of China, there were several powerful armed forces of horse bandits. Because its leaders are all surnamed Ma in Hezhou, Gansu, it is called "Ma Jiajun".

Due to the different scopes of secession, they were divided into "Ning (Xia) Horse", "Qing (Sea) Horse", "Gansu (Su) Horse", etc., and its influence also expanded to Xinjiang.

Ma Jiajun was originally a family armed force, and they used "Gan, He, Hui, and Ma", that is, Gansu people, Hezhou people, Hui people, and Ma surnames, these four articles are the standard for employing people.

The core power adopts the feudal inheritance method of father to son, brother to brother, so it is difficult to exterminate.

Because you have just killed your brother, and your brother has come up again; You killed all your brothers, and within a few years their children made a comeback, and in turn, there were more and more horse bandits, and they couldn't pay enough, just like cutting leeks, if you don't get rid of the roots, the leeks will grow forever.

Therefore, it was impossible for the ruling government of China at that time to "completely subdue" these horse bandits.

When you are strong, they surrender and become officers and soldiers, and when you are weak, they raise their banners and rebel.

Therefore, after decades of development, these family horse bandits have gradually become the armed Ma family army of warlords who control the situation in the northwest, and in fact, they are extremely vicious horse bandits, a cancer in the hinterland of the Chinese nation.

What's even more odious than the horse bandits is that the horse bandits will not come back for a long time after robbing them, but these bandits surnamed Ma have been exploiting the local people in one place for a long time.

made the local people impoverished and fattened these family bandits surnamed Ma.

The second master is not used to these horse bandits who can fight and surrender if they can't fight, after entering Gansu, the first order issued by the second master to the overseer's government is:

Regulations on the disposal of bandits surnamed Ma and their families:

(1) Be sure to achieve total annihilation and purge, and do not accept surrender;

(2) Be sure to check to the end, cut the grass and eradicate the roots, and leave no hidden dangers;

(3) It is imperative that all villages and religious sites where bandits are hidden are destroyed and burned without any reason, so that they can no longer become soil for the resurgence of bandits.

This order is listed as a military regulation of our new army, which will be valid for a long time, and any officer and soldier of our army who dares to violate this order should be punished for treason!

As soon as the three "must" regulations of the Overseer's Office were issued to the officers and soldiers at the grassroots level, they immediately aroused strong repercussions.

There are those who agree, those who oppose, and those who do not understand, as the saying goes, the disaster does not affect the family, and this order obviously carries the suspicion of slaughtering the village and destroying the family.

Zhang Muzhi also felt that this military regulation of the Overseer's Mansion was obviously "chaotic"! So he found the second master and wanted to ask him why Zhang Du gave such an order.

But the second master can't explain that these bandits have never had the belief that they are Chinese in their hearts!

They have been brainwashed through religion since childhood, and they have no concept of the state in their hearts at all, some are only fanatical about religion and obsession with their own family, and others are just slaves serving their family.

"Brother Makino! This Ma Jiajun must not stay, it is a problem in the heart of our country! ”

"Alright! You must have your reasons, and I agree with the suppression of bandits, but the pursuit of the bandits' families is a bit too much, right? Is it possible to change the third article in the military order? ”

"No! None of these three words have changed! Brother Muzhi, you will order the whole army to carry it out! Tell the whole army that if you dare to disobey orders, I, King Zhang, am not afraid of killing! ”

What the second master said was categorical, he was determined to completely exterminate the bandits of the Ma family's army this time, and for this reason, he was ready to become a sinner through the ages.

Seeing that this righteous brother was so obsessed with exterminating these horse bandits, Zhang Muzhi felt very strange! However, as a soldier, he still carried out the military order.

The second master also ordered that the Third Army of Hanzhong move closer to Hezhou, Gansu.

In fact, the construction corps of Hanzhong has already built the highway to Gansu, and it is 230 kilometers away from Hezhou, Gansu.

It turned out that the construction corps of Hanzhong had already begun to build roads as early as October 1914. Because the construction is only a dirt road that can be opened to traffic, there is no technical difficulty.

And it's just widening the existing roads, and it's supported by explosives and trucks, so the progress is very fast.

The 200,000 road construction corps is competing for the road section contracting competition every day, vying to be the flag owner of the mobile red flag. This is also the "agricultural village" model that the second master plagiarized from later generations.

However, the effect of these models in this era is surprisingly good, and the families of the construction corps of the displaced people have actively responded to the battle to capture the flag, and men, women and children have gone into battle together. Can that be slower?

What's more, there is a salary, and the Capture the Flag Company that day still has canned American beef to eat, which company is not desperately trying to catch up with the schedule? (Canned food was invented in 1810.) ）

Therefore, when the second master sent the telegram, the New Third Army was only more than 200 kilometers away from them in a straight horizontal line.

After another five days of rapid marching, the two teams finally converged in the Dingxi area. Of course, the army of road construction and the newly recruited 300,000 new troops will not be so fast.

It was only the front-line troops of the New First Army and the New Third Army that met the division. It is worth mentioning that the strength of the New Third Army is stronger than that of the New First Army, after all, most of the New Third Army are Sichuan and Chongqing children who have undergone actual combat rotation training, and the student soldiers of the New First Army cannot compare with each other when they are exposed to hardships and hard work.

The second master is going to concentrate 120,000 troops this time and completely wipe out the Ma Jiajun in the Hezhou area with a rolling momentum.

As for Qingma and Ningma, in the future, they will send troops to train and clear them in rotation, and they will be used as training troops. And Ma Jiajun in Hezhou, Gansu Province is the focus of the second master's clearance.

After the two armies converged, the second master replenished the troops with supplies, and replenished the New Third Army with 50 "chainsaws" and 10 captured heavy machine guns.

And each of them was assigned to clear the area, and the 120,000 troops pressed towards the Hezhou area in sections. The second master was still afraid that the officers and soldiers under him would not be completely cleared, and he also delegated his guard regiment to various units as a law enforcement team, and informed the whole army that the law enforcement team had the right to enforce battlefield discipline.

Because all the members of the garrison regiment of the Overseer's Mansion are the children of the Zhang family, they will never do anything against the second master's orders.

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The news of the army's clearance of the horse bandits soon spread throughout Gansu Province.

Ma Jiajun naturally got the news. And reacted quickly, disbanding the horse bandits on the hills, letting them go back to their homes and hide among the people.

In the past, this trick against the government army was tried and tested, and it was impossible for the central government to kill its own people! (The horse bandits who put down their swords and guns are not ordinary people!) ）

What's more, with the cover of family members of the same clan, it is even more difficult for officials and soldiers to distinguish between bandits.

Pity! They couldn't have been further wrong this time.

How did they know that it was the private army known as King Zhang Yan who came to encircle and suppress them this time, and it was not an official army sent by the central government at all.

This mistake completely laid the foundation for the destruction of the Ma Jiajun in Gansu!