Since the Eighth Army of the People's Army entered Gansu on December 18 and reorganized the Qinzhou Revolutionary Army, the People's Army quickly reached Dingxi, the gateway to Lanzhou. Ma Anliang, who had no way to retreat, soon convened a "joint defense meeting" in Lanzhou and ordered people to draw up a battle plan in an attempt to use the Western Army as the main force and join forces with Ma Qi in Xining, Ma Lin in Liangzhou, and other units of the Hui Army, relying on the dangerous terrain to thwart the People's Army on the periphery of Lanzhou.www.biquge.info

In fact, the decisive battle in Dingxi was something that Zhang Xiaohuai and Li Gengen could not ask for, so the front was short and the supply was sufficient, and Ma Anliang's troops had nothing to defend at all. In Lanzhou, north of the Yellow River, surrounded by mountains on three sides, although the decisive battle here is not as good as in Dingxi, but as long as Ma Anliang dares to fight a decisive battle, what worries Zhang Xiaohuai and Li Gengen the most is that Ma Anliang led his troops to retreat to the north bank of the west bank of the Yellow River, especially to retreat to the Qinghai grassland and the Hexi corridor, although they will be solved in the end, but it is bound to delay the time to attack Gansu and Qinghai provinces, and it will take a lot of trouble.

Longzhong is heavily calmed in the west, known as "the throat of Gansu, the gateway of Lanzhou", so important, Ma Anliang naturally has to send a reliable person to guard. Therefore, the defense of Dingxi was a team of 8,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry led by Ma Anliang's third son, Ma Tingxing. Although there are many officers and men in the unit, compared with the KPA's troops in Gansu, they are not on the same level in terms of equipment or combat quality. Despite this, the commander of the Eighth Army, Commander Shen Wangdu, was not careless, and the so-called lion fighting the rabbit also used all his strength, which is exactly the reason.

At the operational meeting held by the Eighth Army in Qinzhou, which later became Tianshui, Shen Wangdu issued an operational order to capture Dingxi and Lanzhou in accordance with the military region's strategic plan for marching to the northwest and the instructions of the operation against Dingxi, and resolved to use the 22nd Division of the division as the main force to concentrate superior forces to annihilate the main force of Ma Anliang's Western Army in the Dingxi area. Its deployment was: the 64th Regiment of the 22nd Division attacked Zhaodong Mountain in the east of the county seat; The 65th Regiment attacked Nanshan and blocked the road to Lintao and other places in the west of the city; The 66th Regiment was interspersed with the town of Mikou in the north of the county seat, holding the road where Ma Anliang's army fled to Lanzhou, the provincial capital. Since the terrain of Zhaodongshan is higher than that of Nanshan, it is more conducive to controlling the battle situation after conquering, so Zhaodongshan will be the preferred target of the battle. And because the 23rd Division had already begun to attack Ma Longnan, as well as An Liang's hometown Linxia and other places, the 24th Division would be used as the general reserve for the campaign.

On December 28, 1912, all the participating troops of the 22nd Division arrived at the periphery of Dingxi, and Shen Wangdu ordered the troops to enter the battle in the early morning of the 29th.

The heavy snow the night before yesterday decorated the Loess Plateau in Longzhong with thousands of ravines at this moment. When the sun rises again, the white mountains look particularly beautiful from afar. But this tranquility will soon be shattered by the impending artillery fire.

At about 8 o'clock in the morning of the 29th, with the order of Zhao Fuxiang, commander of the 22nd Division, the Battle of Dingxi officially began.

Boom, boom! Boom Boom Boom ·

A huge explosion sound, instantly invaded the position defended by the Ma Jiajun, the shrapnel of the shells mixed with the mud mixed with the snow and water, and the trees that were lifted and burned by the roots, were quickly thrown around, at this moment, the entire defense line of the Ma Jiajun was instantly shrouded in fireworks, and the flying sand and rocks could no longer describe the fierceness of the explosion, only the earth shaking and shaking the mountains could be suitable for this kind of scene.

The whole shelling lasted for ten minutes before the intense shelling stopped.

"Didi, Didi, Didi..." After the sound of the artillery fell silent, the sound of the charge horn was followed, and at the same time, there was the earth-shattering killing sound of the attacking officers and soldiers.

"Kill!"

"Rush!"

Charge! Although this was a normal offensive, the KPA's offensive has always been so distinctive. I saw the slopes of the mountains at this time, although the speed of the People's Army soldiers charging was not extremely fast, but the distance between them was about the same, although their formation was not very dense, but there was always some care and contact between each other, which made people feel that there was a shadow of the People's Army everywhere. The most important thing is that this looks like a chaotic charge, but in fact it is extremely organized and closely coordinated.

Three-three system!

This is the magic weapon of the People's Army when it charges in previous battles, and the three people form a triangle, whether it is attacking or retreating, it is based on this triangle. Cover each other, cover each other, cooperate with each other. In the multi-player attack, the role that this three-three system can play is bigger and more powerful. Because when attacking, the more people, the more triangles, and because of the relationship between the position and the distance, its coverage will have a great impact on the vision, and it looks like a lot of people, like a tsunami.

In the three-three system tactics, because of the cooperation between each other, when the fighters in some positions are hit and fall, then the fighters behind will take advantage of the situation to fill the position and form a new triangle formation. In this way, a very shocking feeling is formed on the defensive side. Before entering Burma, the British Army did not know or understand this tactic of the People's Army, and it was only after they actually handed over that they felt the power of this tactic.

"Da-da-da, da-da-da..."

Hundreds of KPA officers and men, supported by countless machine-gun fire, quickly rushed to the top of the mountain. And the Western Army of Ma Anliang, which had been stunned and was only equipped with single-shot rifles and a few old artillery, could not organize any effective resistance at this time. Although the cavalry of the department was elite, it had been stationed in the city because of positional warfare, and the cavalry that was tied hand and foot could not exert its due power at all. Only half an hour later, the attacking troops planted the red flag on the pinnacle of the Zhaodongshan and Nanshan positions. The two positions changed hands one after another, and they were defeated by the People's Army, and their formidable combat power was vividly displayed at this moment.

The artillery on the edge of Dingxi City rumbled, and fierce battles were raging. But for the 66th Regiment, which has been interspersed with the mouth of the north of the city, listening to the sound of artillery from the county seat, it is really a torment at this time.

It is located in the north of Dingxi County, 20 kilometers away from Dingxi City in the south, and 80 kilometers away from Lanzhou, the provincial capital in the east. And the 66th Regiment, which can come here this time to intercept the rout of the Western Army, is naturally not an ordinary person. Lu Tao, commander of the 66th Regiment, served as a battalion commander in the Fourth Division, and went north and south with the army, fighting the Qing army in Shaanxi and the British army in Burma, and has rich combat experience, and most of the officers and men under his command are veterans who participated in the battle of Burma who were diverted from other divisions when the troops were formed, and their combat effectiveness should not be underestimated.

Stepping on the ice slag all over the ground, covered in mud rushed here, so that the soldiers were splashed with muddy water all over their bodies, although they looked very embarrassed, but it is not difficult to see their full spirit and high fighting spirit. Listening to the rumbling sound of guns and cannons coming from the direction of the county seat, in the fortifications built on the mountain road, the officers and soldiers whispered to each other from time to time, and occasionally mixed with the laughter and scolding of the officers, the whole pre-war atmosphere seemed extremely relaxed.

"It's been four hours! I don't know if Ma Jiajun will escape here! Lu Tao couldn't help but pull open his sleeves and look at the time on his watch, muttering in his heart. He really didn't have much hope for the combat strength of the Ma Jiajun, for this old-style army with backward equipment, underground, and the only one with blood and bravery, he had already come into contact with it when he was fighting in Shaanxi, and in the face of the people equipped with a large number of automatic firepower such as machine guns, the Ma Jiajun did not say that it would collapse at the touch of a button, but it was not much different.

Looking at the brothers who were extremely relaxed in the fortifications, Lu Tao nodded with satisfaction, and once again cast his eyes on this mountain that was criss-crossed by ravines and was not suitable for blocking, but he felt a little troubled in his heart. But then he smiled again, and he was full of confidence in his troops.

Ma Tingxian grew up in a privileged environment and was often pretentious, but he has never been so embarrassed as he is today. At this time, he has long lost the calmness and calmness he had at the beginning, replaced by a face full of panic. I had long heard my father say how powerful the People's Army was, but I didn't expect it to be so powerful that my subordinates couldn't even carry a charge from others. Ma Tingxing was naturally unwilling to be caught and kill himself, and choosing to break through to the provincial city of Lanzhou naturally became his only way to survive.

It's just that Ma Tingxin really didn't expect that when he led the remnants of the 2,000 cavalry to flee to the place of Mikou, the opponent would also appear in this place, the most critical place for them to retreat.

Life is a dead end, but it arouses Ma Tingxing's ferocity even more. There is a strong enemy in front and a pursuer in the back, and at this time you can only fight hard. It's just that in front of the strong field fortifications and the 66th Regiment, which was equipped with a large number of machine guns and cannons, the cavalry under the command of Ma Tingxing was beaten on his back as soon as he fought. When the cavalry had completely lost the mobility and speed on which it depended, it was only a matter of time before the final defeat came.

On December 28, 1912, the Battle of Dingxi ended just six hours after it was launched. In this battle, Ma Anliang's western army infantry and cavalry nearly 10,000 people were lost here, and his son Ma Tingxing only took a few followers to escape into Lanzhou. So far, Ma Anliang, as the "Emperor Taishang" of Gansu, has lost eighty percent of his strength.

Seeing the third son who returned from a fiasco, Ma Anliang was terrified. At this time, he finally began to think about his future path, but before he could act again, he became a prisoner of the ranks.

On December 29, the Zhongwu Army and the Zhenwu Army stationed outside Lanzhou, under the joint leadership of their commanders Zhou Wuxue and Lu Zhentao, blocked the Yellow River Iron Bridge and launched a mutiny. Soon after seizing the rest of Ma Anliang's troops, the two forces entered the city and occupied various points in the city, and seized Ma Anliang and his officers. The telegram claimed that it was willing to accept the reorganization of the People's Army and join the Southwest People's Autonomous Government.

A few days later, Ma Fuxiang in Ningxia, Yang Shuzeng in Dihua, Xinjiang, Yang Zhanxu in Kashgar, and others also issued telegrams expressing their willingness to join the Southwest People's Autonomous Government.

In this way, the situation in the entire northwest changed dramatically in a few days, and the speed of the situation exceeded everyone's expectations.