As soon as Yuan Shikai heard that the East China Autonomous Political Axe had declared war on the Kuomintang, he immediately sent three urgent telegrams in succession, asking Feng Guozhang to speed up the march and take a shortcut to attack Nanjing by land.

"Let Feng Manzi be in front of Zhang Xun and the East China Army, and if he can't take Nanjing, he will ask." Yuan Shikai shouted loudly.

Yuan Shikai's political adviser Mo Lixun pointed out that the biggest threat to China at present is not the autonomous political axe of East China, but Zhang Xun's pigtail army.

Zhang Xun is not dead in his heart for the restoration of the royal family, and Yuan Shikai is naturally not at ease to hand over Jiangsu to Zhang Xun.

Therefore, he had already telegraphed Feng Guozhang to take a shortcut to capture Nanjing in front of Zhang Xun, but he did not expect that the East China Autonomous Political Axe would suddenly declare war on the Kuomintang.

Although it was a good thing for Yuan Shikai in the overall situation, Yuan Shikai also did not think that it was a good thing for the East China Autonomous Political Axe to annex Jiangsu.

The strength developed after the three autonomous provinces of East China occupied by the East China Autonomous Political Axe is enough to make people feel that the black clouds are overwhelming, and if they are allowed to occupy Jiangsu again at this time, it will be the four autonomous provinces of East China.

This is also a situation that Yuan Shikai does not want to see!

…… After Xia Jun declared war, he immediately issued an attack order to the eight production corps in Jiangsu, and the eight production corps were mobilized from all over Jiangsu and rushed to Nanjing from all directions.

The eight production corps are all motorized corps, and the motorized equipment is all exchanged by Xia Jun from the exchange platform, so there is no need to pay too high military expenses for this.

Whether it was Yuan Shikai or Xia Jun, the first thing that came to mind was to capture Nanjing.

It is impossible for Xia Jun to let Nanjing fall into the hands of Zhang Xun, it was Nanjing that suffered in the second revolution in history, and after Nanjing conquered Nanjing, the pigtail army 'arbitrarily acted' in Nanjing for three days.

What does it mean to act arbitrarily? That is, robbery and forcible annihilation are all allowed.

After the city of Nanjing was broken, after entering the city, the Beiyang army was like a beast, wantonly burned and killed the silver plunder, the Nanjing merchants and people were destroyed and killed, innumerable, many women were annihilated by the silver and threw themselves into the Qinhuai River to commit suicide, Zhang Xun's pigtail army was particularly beastial.

At the same time, Xia Jun did not allow Jiangsu to fall into the hands of Yuan Shikai, Jiangsu has been his long-term target, this is an excellent opportunity to occupy Jiangsu, Xia Jun naturally can't let it go.

However, not long after Xia Jun gave the order, he ordered again, "Let the eight production corps postpone the attack on Nanjing first, and report to the military headquarters after Feng Guozhang's Second Army and Zhang Xun's Wuwei Front Army arrive in Nanjing." ”

"Chairman, why are you holding off on the attack?" Chen Xuanyu and the other staff officers all wondered, why did the chairman suddenly change his mind again?

Xia Jun pointed to the map and said: "Feng Guozhang and Zhang Xun are leading troops south, and they also want to capture Nanjing, don't you think this is a great opportunity to kill them?" ”

"Huh?" Chen Xuanyu was dumbfounded.

"One pot?" Liu Wenhong also opened his mouth wide and looked left and right in disbelief.

"Chairman, that's Yuan Shikai's troops, if we give them a pot, will it cause even greater turmoil?" Chen Xuanyu said to Xia Jun.

"Zhang Xun's pigtail army and Feng Guozhang's second army are not allowed to exist, Zhang Xun, the leader of the pigtail army, is a restorationist, we must resolutely defeat them, Feng Guozhang's second army is composed of Manchurians, and it is a force that we must resolutely defeat." Xia Jun said resolutely: "When the time comes, we will accompany Yuan Shikai whatever he wants." ”

"Yes!"

Several people responded, and immediately issued Xia Jun's order, asking the eight production corps to suspend the attack.

"Principal, the students think that these eight production corps should be arranged outside Nanjing, and when Feng Guozhang and Zhang Xun's troops arrive, they can be allowed to attack Nanjing first, while our eight production corps are secretly mobilized, surround them as quickly as possible, tighten their pockets and annihilate them as quickly as possible." Liu Wenhong looked at the map for a while and then suggested to Xia Jun.

"Hmmm! Not bad. Xia Jun looked at the map, nodded in agreement, and said, "That's it." ”

…… After Feng Guozhang's Second Army moved south, it moved south along the Jingpu Road, and soon captured Suxian, Bengbu, and Chuxian, reaching Pukou on April 21. On the 22nd, his son-in-law, Chen Zhiji, commander of the Nanjing Eighth Division, who participated in the anti-Yuan struggle, led a small number of guards to secretly cross the river and surrender to his father-in-law. Chen made a detailed report to Feng Guozhang on the leaderless chaos of the Nanjing group and the layout of its fortifications. Feng Guozhang was overjoyed, and said to Chen Zhiji: "The information you provided is very important, when I wave my army to cross the river, we should cooperate with the outside world, capture Nanjing, and make a first contribution to you." ”

Subsequently, Feng Guozhang joined Zhang Xun's pigtail soldiers and Liu Guanxiong's navy and deployed a joint battle plan to conquer Nanjing.

On the 23rd, the East China Autonomous Government declared war on the Kuomintang, and Feng Guozhang received a series of urgent telegrams from Yuan Shikai, asking him to dare to conquer Nanjing in front of Zhang Xun and the East China Army.

Feng Guozhang took a shortcut by land, and then ordered the troops to speed up the march and rush all the way to Nanjing. The Second Army marched hundreds of miles in one day and rushed directly to Nanjing in one go.

Feng Guozhang, who was marching fast, couldn't help but be proud, with his speed, I am afraid that the pigtail army would have been thrown far away by him, as for the East China Army, it is estimated that it has just entered Jiangsu!

Just when Feng Guozhang was proud, he had just arrived in Nanjing, and suddenly found that a huge army had appeared under the city of Nanjing.

Looking for someone to investigate, it turned out to be the East China Army!

Moreover, it was eight corps, with more than 100,000 people in the East China Army, and his second army was only 20,000 people.

As soon as Feng Guozhang arrived, the East China Army, which was besieging Nanjing, suddenly gave up a gap and gave up the West Gate to Feng Guozhang.

Feng Guozhang was overjoyed and hurriedly blocked it.

Feng Guozhang then sent a telegram to report Yuan Shikai's situation, asking him to instruct him on the next move.

Yuan Shikai was taken aback after receiving Feng Guozhang's report in Yanjing, but he didn't expect the East China Army to move so quickly, and he dispatched more than 100,000 troops to surround Nanjing City before Feng Guozhang.

What should I do?

Yuan Shikai had no choice but to order Feng Guozhang to act at the opportunity.

A day later, Zhang Xun's troops also rushed to the city of Nanjing, seeing the soldiers and horses gathered under the city of Nanjing, Zhang Xun was very nostalgic for the title of Governor of Liangjiang given to him by the Qing court, and he thought about sitting on the real Governor of Liangjiang every night.

After Zhang Xun arrived, the East China Army gave up another gap, and Zhang Xun also blocked it with soldiers and horses. Zhang Xun and Feng Guozhang went to inquire about the East China Army, and some soldiers revealed to them that the ammunition had not yet been delivered, so there was no way to attack the city.

This made Zhang Xun and Feng Guozhang overjoyed, and Zhang Xun immediately proposed that the first to enter the city be the overseer. This proposal was immediately supported by Feng Guozhang.

Then Zhang Xun and Feng Guozhang put forward this proposal to the East China Army, and the East China Army sent a division commander as a representative and agreed to the proposal.

Feng Guozhang and Zhang Xun were both gearing up and launched an attack on their respective demarcated city walls on the same day.

The siege has begun!

However, Feng Guozhang and Zhang Xun's troops were strongly resisted by Yuan's army led by He Haiming in Nanjing, and both Zhang Xun's pigtailed army and Feng Guozhang's second army were repulsed in the siege on the first day.

Zhang Xun ordered the next day that those who retreated during the siege were shot on the spot, and the first person to climb the city was rewarded with 10,000 silver dollars, and all the officers and soldiers could be arbitrarily punished for three days after the city was broken!

Under Zhang Xun's military order, the pigtail army became brutal and brave, and Feng Guozhang was frightened, and it was precisely because of this siege in history that Feng Guozhang was deeply impressed in his heart, so that he had heavy troops many times but did not dare to use force against Zhang Xun.

…… At ten o'clock in the morning of April 39, the siege battle was still continuing, Nanjing's Yuan army resisted stubbornly, and Zhang Xun's pigtailed army, although it was not afraid of death, was still reluctantly resisted by Nanjing's Yuan army.

At this time, the East China Army, which had not fired a single shot before, suddenly made a move, and made frequent moves in a very short period of time.

When Zhang Xun and Feng Guozhang reacted, they found that more than 100,000 East China troops were suddenly deployed around them, and they showed a tendency to encircle.

"What's going on? Why are they surrounding us? Feng Guozhang was stunned immediately when he received the news.

Zhang Xun received the news and said angrily: "What do they want to do? ”

No one gave them an explanation, and six of the eight production corps of the East China Army were drawn out, and at 12 o'clock that day, Zhang Xun's pigtail army and Feng Guozhang's second army were officially encircled.

Zhang Xun and Feng Guozhang didn't know the situation and were still waiting and watching, but they missed the time to break through.

Without any answer or explanation, the East China Army narrowed the encirclement at two o'clock in the afternoon of the same day and launched a fierce attack on the Braided Army and the 2nd Division.

Although these eight divisions are all production corps, they are all composed of militia members who have received military training. Although it lacks heavy firepower in terms of equipment, it is not inferior to professional divisions in terms of individual firepower.

In addition, in the past few days when Feng Guozhang and Zhang Xun attacked Nanjing, another rapid-fire artillery regiment rushed to Nanjing.

As soon as the battle began, rapid-fire artillery began to rain shells frantically on the positions of the Braided Army and the Second Army, and the rapid-fire guns with an extremely fast rate of fire caused many Manchu officers and soldiers of the Braided Army and the Second Division to die before they could react.

Six production corps attacked simultaneously from six directions, and the Braided Army and the 2nd Division were crushed at the first touch, and under fierce individual fire, the Braided Army and the 2nd Division were routed without much resistance.

However, they were already in the encirclement of the East China Army, and the defeated Braided Army and the Manchu soldiers of the Second Army ran around like headless flies, but there were East China Army everywhere, and those in this direction were blocked in that direction, and as a result, the East China Army was still blocked there in that direction.

The encirclement of the six production corps became tighter and tighter, shouting, "Capture Zhang Xun and Feng Guozhang alive and send them to a military court!" Along the way, the Braided Army and the soldiers of the Second Army of Beiyang were killed or captured, and the remaining Braided Army and the soldiers of the Second Army were gradually driven together.

In the midst of the chaos, Feng Guozhang was like five thunderbolts.

He thought of the original Yangxia War, which was also the East China Army, and they beat the attacking Beiyang Army to the ground...... Zhang Xun was beaten so that his eyes were red, and he lay behind the cover and roared wildly.

"All the people of the Braided Army and the Second Army listen, immediately lay down their arms and surrender, otherwise they will all be killed on the spot." The powerful loudspeakers began to persuade the Braided Army and the Second Army to surrender as they were driven together.

"Again, if you don't surrender within ten minutes, everyone will be killed on the spot." The loudspeaker once again came out loud and loud, and every Beiyang Army could hear it clearly.

Both the Braided Army and the Second Army were stirring, and at this time they looked around themselves, in the battle just now, at least nearly half of the troops were killed, and at this time more than 100,000 people surrounded them more than 15,000 people, and there was no hope of victory.

Breakthrough?

That's not to even think about.

The soldiers who were scratching ignored the obstacles, threw away their guns directly, and ran towards the East China Army opposite.

Even those officers were the same, some directly brought the collective portraits of the soldiers, Feng Guozhang didn't dare to stop them, and Zhang Xun took a pistol and shot more than a dozen pigtailed soldiers who ran to the avatars, but it had no effect!

(To be continued)