Red flags were unfurled, mules and horses neighed, a brigade of Jianghuai soldiers dragged artillery and machine guns, and the same number of civilians drove thousands of carts loaded with various supplies to Dagukou.

The soldiers wore khaki cotton coats with black spots, and their heads were steel helmets painted dark green, the matte paint remaining inconspicuous and unreflective in the blazing sun. The Beiyang Army cheered, and Wu Peifu was so excited that he was almost speechless.

Wu Peifu's regiment of soldiers was not afraid of Yue himself, and when they were in Mukden, they fought-for-tat with the Second Railway Garrison Brigade of Yueben, and they also had the upper hand. It's just that the second and third regiments slipped away silently, which really hurt morale.

Now seeing the arrival of a brigade of 4,000 reinforcements, morale is suddenly high.

These soldiers did not wear the insignia of the iron-blooded eighteen-star army, nor did they have epaulettes indicating their ranks, and there were only seven large yellow characters on the banner: Jianghuai People's Volunteers.

The leader of the team was the leader of Shanghai's industrial and commercial circles, the famous Ningbo tycoon Yu Qiaqing, and the brigade commander who led the troops was Xue Zilin, who had served as the vanguard of the Huaishang Army and later served as a prisoner of the Anhui Revolutionary Army. He was favored by Gu Nanshan in Fengtian, and was specially sent to Anqing to receive rapid training from the non-commissioned officer academy, and after returning to Fengtian City, he was promoted to regiment commander, and soon to be promoted to brigade commander.

Although the officers of the Jianghuai Army were a little hot-eyed, they all accepted it. Although Xue Zilin is young, his qualifications are not shallow. He participated in the anti-Qing "Huaishang Army", and the student army he led has always been the main force of the Huaishang Army, and has captured more than 10 prefectures and counties in northern Anhui. He also once confronted Zhang Xun's Jiangfang battalion head-to-head in Bengbu, and the two sides did not distinguish between victory and defeat, and the combat effectiveness of the student army was also quite strong. When the Huaishang army attacked Anqing, Xue Zilin was the vanguard again, and in the face of Gu Nanshan's elite troops, the student army fought hard and did not retreat, which left a deep impression on Gu Nanshan. Especially in the Huaishang Army, where military discipline was extremely loose, the student army was the only remaining white crow, and Xue Zilin personally shot and killed the party bandits who annihilated women.

Gu Nanshan stumbled upon Xue Zilin in the Minfu team, he hated and loved this old opponent who had fought in Anqing, and immediately became the battalion commander of the guard battalion by his side, and then Xue Zilin was promoted by a rocket, and soon became the brigade commander of the first brigade of the first division of the fourth army of the Jianghuai Army.

This time, he was ordered to help Wu Peifu defend Dagukou, and for various considerations, the First Brigade did not use its own name, but used the name of the nondescript "Jianghuai People's Volunteers??? That means telling Yuan Shikai that it wasn't Chai Dongliang and Gu Nanshan who sent them, but they volunteered!

With them arrived, there was also a special unit, the most mysterious air force regiment in the JAC Army!

This was the first formed air force of the Jianghuai Army, with 30 semi-metal biplanes, and Feng Ru, director of the Aircraft Research and Development Center, also rushed from Anqing to Dagukou to see with his own eyes the role of aircraft in modern warfare so that he could prepare for future improvements.

Two biplanes hovered in the air, with the front half of the fuselage silver and the back half painted in dazzling red, and every time they flew over the people's heads, the soldiers and civilians who were building the trenches would burst into a deafening cheer.

The pilot cooperated with the enthusiasm of the people and made tricks such as rolling and diving, which caused even more noise. Seeing that the fuel on the fuel gauge was running out, the two planes reluctantly flew away, and the pilots flew low on the ground, waving to the crowd from time to time.

Seeing the two planes returning, the communications corps on the ground immediately called the airstrip 30 kilometers behind and ordered two more planes to take off.

There were a few British instructors around Xue Zilin who had been temporarily transferred from the Anqing Army Academy, and they frowned as soon as they arrived at Dagukou.

The trenches built by Wu Peifu's Beiyang Army were simply dirt ditches of different depths, no tunnels reinforced with sleepers, and the inner walls of the trenches were not supported by wooden planks, and the anti-artillery pits were only small holes dug in the tunnels half a person high.

Use this to fend off the naval guns of the Navy? It's a joke, the trenches become graves when a cannon comes over, and the soldiers are buried alive!

Whether it is Wu Peifu or Xue Zilin, the combined fleet has always been a lingering shadow in their hearts, and the Dagukou Fort was razed to the ground after the Gengzi State Change, losing the protection of the coastal defense artillery, and the Dagukou is no match for the naval artillery in any case with only the army's mountain artillery and field artillery. Although there are 30 planes to help, the largest aerial bomb developed so far is only 100 pounds, and it is absolutely impossible to sink battleships and cruisers, even if the mission can only be regarded as scratching the battleship. A few more 100-pound aerial bombs can sink destroyers and torpedo boats of several hundred tons at most, but that is also a very difficult task to complete, destroyers and torpedo boats are small in size, and they are only a small black spot in the air, and they have a high degree of maneuverability, and it is very difficult to hit them at high altitude.

The research and development of torpedoes has encountered great difficulties, and the phenomena of yaw and early explosion are very common, and whether it is an ordinary torpedo used by submarines and warships, or an aviation torpedo equipped with aircraft, they do not have the ability to fight in actual combat at all.

At present, the only weapons of aircraft are machine guns and small aerial bombs, and it is enough to fight the army, but it is difficult to fight warships.

The main purpose of transferring the 1st Air Force Regiment to Dagukou this time is to observe the role of the Air Force in modern warfare, to test the capabilities of this "Huaxia" aircraft in actual combat, and to provide air cover for the Army.

It is said that the army can launch an attack on Dagukou at any time under the cover of naval artillery, while the Chinese defenders are always under the threat of giant artillery.

In the same way, once the land is landed, it will also face a blow from the air!

Both the offensive and defensive sides have their own advantages, whether it is the army that needs to land on the beach, or the squadron that does not have batteries and shore defense artillery, the attack from the air or the sea is too powerful!

"Thank you for your righteous action, Wu is grateful!" In Wu Peifu's eyes, there were already faint tears flashing.

He was not afraid of the Yue army, and when he was in Mukden, his regiment fought with the Fourth Railway Garrison Brigade of Yueben, and almost completely annihilated the other party, but he also suffered more than 600 casualties.

"Brigadier Wu, the deployment of your troops is very unreasonable, the range of the main guns of the battleships and battlecruisers of the Yue army is 26,000 kilometers, and the large ships can sail to a distance of 3,000 meters from the coast, that is to say, the naval guns of the Navy can cover within 23 kilometers of the coastline, while the forward beachhead of your army is less than two kilometers from the coastline!" Xue Zilin unceremoniously pointed out the defects of Wu Peifu's defense.

Wu Peifu's surname has always been soft rather than hard, and his original gratitude to the Jianghuai army suddenly dropped to the freezing point, and he said politely: "If our army is deployed outside the naval artillery firepower, there will be no hindrance to the landing of the army, and when they establish a solid beachhead and heavy weapons are also transported ashore, our army's losses will be even greater??? Brigade Commander Xue is afraid that he has never fought, right? ”

Xue Zilin is young and vigorous, where to eat this set: "It can't compare to the prestige of Brigade Commander Wu fighting the garrison in Mukden, I haven't fought with Yue himself, but I have fought a lot with the patrol battalion of the Qing court and the Beiyang Army!" ”

Wu Peifu thought that Xue Zilin laughed at him for only daring to take the prestige of the local garrison of the army, but he did not dare to fight the elite Hiroshima Division, and at the same time ridiculed Beiyang as a remnant of the Manchu Dynasty.

Wu Peifu's face sank suddenly, if it weren't for the friendship of the Jianghuai Army in the snow, his temper would have flare up immediately!

Not far away, an old man with a smile came over: "Two brigade commanders, what are you talking about?" ”

Seeing Yu Qiaqing coming, the two black-eyed chicken-like young men hurriedly greeted with a smile: "Cha Lao is hard." ”

Wu Peifu even arched his hand and said: "Cha Lao poured all his family into the country, which made Wu embarrassed!" ”

The cost of this troop dispatch was raised by the Ningbo Chamber of Commerce headed by Yu Qiaqing, and it was a huge sum of 1 million. In addition to the soldiers' salaries and ammunition, the biggest expenditure was to buy a large number of building materials such as steel bars, cement, wooden planks, and sleepers to help Wu Peifu build new trenches.

Yu Qiaqing was wearing a cotton robe and said with a smile: "It's not hard, it's not hard, the two brigade commanders are called hard work to protect the family and defend the country, and the old man wants to thank the brothers of the Beiyang Army and the Jianghuai Army, if the country is ruined, can we businessmen still do business?" Just a few small dollars, Brigadier Wu should not remember it! ”

Wu Peifu was grateful to him in his heart, thinking that he was saying polite words, and one million is still a small amount of money?

In fact, Yu Qiaqing really didn't take this million in his eyes, in the past two years, he followed Chai Dongliang to invest in Guanghua Group and Wuhu Industrial Park, and made a sea of gold and silver, and his family property reached an astonishing 50 million silver dollars!

One million, it's just a trivial matter, not to mention that Yu Qiaqing didn't pay it alone.

Buzzing, there was a roar of engines on the sea in the distance, the soldiers of the Beiyang Army had long been accustomed to it in the past few days, and it was their own seaplane that came to reconnoitre.

Fortunately, they only circled overhead a few times each time, and then walked away, and the soldiers of the Beiyang Army scolded twice and continued to dig trenches.

Wu Peifu looked at the biplane wooden plane with a flight altitude of only one hundred and fifty meters, and scolded hatefully: "This dog thing, it's the right time to come, Xiao Yue is good luck?" ”

As soon as Jiang Huaijun's plane left, his plane arrived, which can only be said to be Xiao Yueben's luck.

Xue Zilin sneered: "Really? After saying that, he turned back and shouted to an officer: "Order the machine gun to shoot in the air, don't let this fly disturb Brigade Commander Wu's interest." ”

Several soldiers of the Jianghuai Army carried the Makqin machine gun, and the bullets on the bullet chain seemed to be made of gold, glowing with golden light.

The machine gunner skillfully opened the tenon, and the muzzle of Makqin's gun pointed into the air, Wu Peifu was dumbfounded, he never dreamed that the Makqin machine gun could shoot at this angle.

On the position of the Jianghuai Army, one after another Makqin opened the anti-aircraft firing tenon at the same time, and the machine guns were all pointed into the air.

As the small flag of the flag bearer waved, the "dignified" brass sound filled the sky, and more than a dozen Makqin were launched into the air at the same time, forming a network of fire.

A whip of flames whipped the poor plane. The pilot had never been hit by ground fire, and he immediately panicked and desperately tried to climb higher. However, the maximum ceiling of the Falman seaplane is only 300 meters, and the fastest flight speed is only 200 kilometers.

The wooden fuselage was quickly punched to pieces, the fuel tanks were pierced, and even worse, the fuel for the Valman seaplane was not expensive aviation kerosene, but gasoline. A volley of bullets pierced the mailbox, the flammable gasoline caught fire, and the wooden biplane became a ball of fire, tumbling in the air and falling to pieces.

The infantry on the ground let out a thunderous cheer, especially the soldiers of the Jianghuai Army were even more arrogant.

Wu Peifu walked over curiously, squatted down to look at the Jianghuai Army's machine gun, which seemed to be no different from the Beiyang Army's Makqin machine gun, but after careful identification, he found that there were many different details, whether it was a tripod or a shooting device, there were many differences.

Xue Zilin deliberately explained on the side: "This is specially made by our Guanghua Arsenal, adding an anti-aircraft shooting device and a flat strafing device, and also improving the tripod and firing device, Brigade Commander Wu doesn't want to try two shots?" ”

Yu Qiaqing is the director of Guanghua Group, so he is naturally more proud, and he also instigated: "Brigade Commander Wu doesn't try? ”

Wu Peifu was still interested, but when he saw Xue Zilin's appearance, he was immediately interested, and barely squeezed out a smile: "Good gun, good gun, I won't try." ”

Xue Zilin suddenly remembered the topic: "Brigade Commander Wu, I suggest that our fortifications should not be built here, but should be moved backwards, destroy the roads along the line, lay a large number of mines to block the speed of the landing of the Yue army, and at the same time use the air force to kill and injure the infantry who landed on the shore, and then lure the enemy deep into the land and annihilate them in one fell swoop!" ”

Wu Peifu disdainfully pointed to the wreckage of the Falman seaplane that was still burning in the distance: "Just rely on that thing?" ”

Xue Zilin sneered: "My plane is not good, and it may not be our plane either!" ”

Wu Peifu-for-tat: "Your army has come thousands of miles to help, Wu is grateful, Brigade Commander Xue can retreat to the second line with your army, if we run out of Beiyang, I hope your army will help us collect the corpse!" I, Wu, will not retreat an inch, and my Beiyang soldiers are the country's regular army, and they can only advance and die, and never retreat! ”

Xue Zilin had never seen such a stubborn person, and he was speechless with anger.

Just when the two of them were sulking, another Farman biplane flew from the sea, and Xue Zilin said angrily: "You dare to come? Knock it down for me! ”

Before the machine gunner could raise the muzzle of the gun that had been leveled, another roar was heard in the air, and two silver-white planes came out of the clouds one after the other, and the evil eagle swooped down, and the two light air-cooled Makqin machine guns under the wings of the aircraft almost opened fire.

The flight speed of the Huaxia aircraft was almost more than twice that of the Valman seaplane, and before the pilot could react, the wings on one side had been punched with two rows of round holes, and the plane immediately lost its balance, and the wings trembled violently, and the two Huaxia planes chased after each other, and within a while, the wing on one side of the Valman seaplane was interrupted by a special 7.92 mm heavy bullet.

The Falman seaplane, which was missing one wing, spun and fell to the ground, the fuel tank hit the hard ground, and there was a violent explosion, and the plane and the pilot were blown to pieces.

The Huaxia-style pilot swooped down and fired at the wreckage of the plane, and the bullet shot a tongue of fire that was 300 meters long.

Wu Peifu was drenched in cold sweat, what if it wasn't the plane below, but the infantry on the move? Isn't it like a tiger entering a flock of sheep, slaughtering at will?

No, it's more terrible than a tiger entering a flock, a tiger doesn't have wings!

The corners of Xue Zilin's mouth picked out a playful smile: "Brigade Commander Wu, there is still something to see about this, right?" ”

(To be continued)