"For Tianjin, we want to surround but not fight! Beijing must lay it down as soon as possible! Pu Guanshui only slept four or five hours a day these days, but he didn't show any signs of fatigue on the outside. On the contrary, this former commander of the workers' and peasants' revolution, who was a middle- and high-ranking officer of the Beiyang Army, was high-spirited and highly concentrated.

The commanders of the front-line command are also the same as Pu Guanshui, the development of the situation is much beyond imagination, the seemingly powerful Beiyang Army has been divided into two at the moment, the Beiyang Hebei Group on the left once attacked Chai Qingguo's troops on a large scale, and in the Hebei Plain area, the Beiyang Army is piling up corpses in front of trenches, barbed wire, pillboxes, and machine guns. Now they are at a loss for what to do between Xingtai and Handan. The Beiyang Army on the East Road retreated from Qingdao, and nearly 200,000 people retreated in Weifang at a loss.

Compared with the completely panicked Beiyang Army, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army's campaign objectives were clear and its tactical concepts were firm. The two reserve armies went up from the northeast of the mountain and took over all the important places of the Shandong Military Region. The Shandong Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army set out from Dezhou and headed north, passing through Cangzhou to Tianjin.

"Let's really not provoke the foreign devil's naval artillery for the time being?" There are still comrades who have a little regret.

"Now go and provoke the naval artillery of foreign devils, we will suffer." Pu Guanshui said with a smile. This is the consistent concept of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, and not being afraid of sacrifice and giving up their lives in vain are two things that are fundamentally contrary to each other. ”

"Report! The 38th Army had already arrived at its destination west of Tianjin. They had already taken up the railroad and began to build positions. The 38th Army asks for a tentative attack! "The correspondent came to report the situation.

All the commanders instinctively looked at the map, and after occupying the railway, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army had already cut off the connection between Tianjin and Beijing. The fact that the war went so smoothly also meant that many military plans had not had time to be formulated at all. The CMC's predictions have come true, but this plan now looks extremely risky.

"If we attack Beijing and the enemy comes up from behind, we will be encircled." This is the greatest concern of the comrades.

"It's normal that the enemy wants to encircle and annihilate us under the city of Beijing. But that would have to be if they were able to return to Beijing. I don't believe these enemy forces will be able to withstand the tailgating of other units as they retreat. The reason why we want to fight all the way to the city of Beijing is to let them surround them. The Beiyang Army was not good at sports warfare. Pu Guanshui has completely understood the core of the plan of the Military Commission, "If you want to mobilize the Beiyang Army, you have to give an order from Yuan Shikai." If you want Yuan Shikai to give an urgent order, you must hit the city of Beijing. ”

After saying this, Pu Guanshui said loudly: "The Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army has never opposed sending people to death in vain, but we must have such courage when we really need to sacrifice. The comrades have all sworn to the party flag and the military flag that they will fight for the cause of China's revolution for the rest of their lives! If the revolution needs our troops to be bare under the city of Beijing, we will be under the city of Beijing. Comrades of other units will surely be able to liberate the whole of China with our blood donation! ”

These words caused a silent throbbing among the commanders present, and everyone present had commanded thousands of troops. I've won a lot of battles, so even if I knew that dying on the battlefield was a normal thing, but after a series of victories, I suddenly went into battle with this mentality, which really lifted everyone's spirits.

"We must complete the tasks assigned by the party!" The political commissar was the first to stand up and said.

Other comrades also stood up one after another to express their attitude, not afraid of sacrifice, and resolutely completed the task.

Pu Guanshui said: "Then let's start the final mobilization before the war in the army." Once the march is made to Beijing, the fighting behind will not stop. This will be the battle that will decide the fate of China. And our opponent is not only the Beiyang Army, but also foreign troops stationed in China. Tell the comrades that a considerable number of the foreign garrisons in this gang have participated in the killing of the Chinese in the Gengzi Incident! ”

This is actually wrong, it has been 15 years since the Gengzi Incident. The number of soldiers and officers who have participated in the Eight-Nation Coalition is very limited. But Pu Guanshui didn't care about inciting nationalist sentiments, and for Pu Guanshui himself, the elimination of foreign troops in China was his long-standing desire.

On July 30, 1915, the terrified Tianjin garrison received the news. The main forces of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army opposite them turned to the northwest and marched. The Tianjin garrison didn't even have to think twice to figure out that the destination of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was Beijing.

Two days later, on August 1, the day of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army's Army Day, the 50th Army, as the vanguard, had eliminated the defenders of Langfang and broken several small Beiyang Army units along the road, and the Second Division of the 50th Army began to officially attack the Beiyang Army stationed in Tongzhou.

There were two armies of the Beiyang Army, with a total of 200,000 people, guarding Beijing, namely the First Army and the Second Army. Garrisoned in Tongzhou was the Beiyang Second Army. Army Commander Lu Jin didn't expect the People's Party to come so quickly. Five or six days ago, Lu Jin thought that the People's Party's troops were in Shandong, but he never expected that the People's Party would actually ignore the Shandong Beiyang Army, and even dare to expose its flanks to the Beiyang defenders in Tianjin, so it swaggered to attack Beijing.

"Don't worry, when the 19th Army in Tianjin comes up, we can destroy the People's Party by working together inside and outside!" Lu Jin cheered up his subordinates at the command headquarters.

Lu Jin's subordinates also nodded their heads again and again, "What Mr. Lu said is true!" ”

The reason why they did this was not because of how much they supported Lu Jin's idea, but because they subconsciously expressed their support for the future of victory in the confusion of suddenly entering the war.

But reality quickly undermined this support," the report said. A cavalry of the People's Party bypassed Tongzhou and went straight to the south of the city. ”

"The cavalry brigade will attack immediately! Be sure to stop them! Lu Jin immediately roared. If the cavalry unit of the People's Party was allowed to bypass Tongzhou and wreak havoc under the city of Beijing, not to mention what threat the Second Army of Lu Jin's division would face, he could fully imagine how he would be reprimanded by Yuan Shikai.

The commander of this Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was Pang Zi, who was temporarily transferred to the Shandong Military Region. Pang Zi, who was originally subordinate to the Henan Military Region, as a mobile unit, did not join the battle sequence of the Xingtai positional battle. Instead, it was on standby in the area of Linqing and Nangong County.

As a local, it is difficult to say whether the news of Pang Zi's return is bad or good for local work. Even if Pang Zi is not notorious, he is definitely not a positive character. However, Chen Tianhua was urgently ordered to go to Nangong County to preside over the work in his capacity as secretary of the Hebei Provincial Party Committee. In the days of war and chaos, many old members who had participated in the peasant association saw Director Chen come back, and they cried a handful of snot. With Chen Tianhua presiding here, the area with Nangong County as the core quickly calmed down.

Until the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army began to attack Dezhou, the cavalry brigade commanded by Pang Zi went north to join the Shandong Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army under the order of the Central Military Commission in order to strengthen the mobile combat capability of the Shandong Military Region. Pang Zi was originally a commander from the Shandong Military Region, and he did not feel strange to him after being transferred.

The purpose of this dispatch was simple, to fight the Beiyang cavalry troops and annihilate the Beiyang cavalry.

"Comrades! If you have anything to explain, speak quickly. Pang Zi was not on the horse at this time, he stood in front of a column of soldiers and said with a serious expression.

The faces of Pang Zi and several senior commanders were tragic and solemn, but the soldiers in that column were resolute. This is not pretending to be resolute, these soldiers are all machine gunners, since the annihilation of the third town of Beiyang in Anhui, one of the tactics of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army against the enemy's cavalry units is the machine gun array.

As long as the enemy can be brought into the machine gun formation, no cavalry unit can survive the close range of dozens or hundreds of machine guns. However, at the moment it is a big question whether the enemy can be brought into the machine-gun array. The most important thing is that even if it does, there is no way to build a strong machine-gun position, and the enemy who has been knocked down from the horse is not dead for a while, and in the face of their attacks, weak individual bunkers do not provide much protection. Even if it is not a life of nine deaths, the fate of more than half of the machine gunners' casualties is something everyone can imagine.

The ranks on the shoulders of the soldiers were not low, ensigns, sergeants, and even lieutenants and captains. Such a group of people represented the backbone of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army. Every fighter is a member of the party, and only such a group of people can stand up so firmly to undertake this dangerous work.

"Brigadier Pang, please rest assured organizationally. We will be able to do our best job. Moreover, there are three comrades in one machine-gun position, and we can still deal with ten or twenty Beiyang Army. The captain replied loudly.

As he was talking, he saw dozens of soldiers running from other places, and when they arrived near the team, everyone stood up. Although the leader of the soldiers was blocked, he shouted loudly: "Brigade Commander Pang, we ask to return to the team, we want to participate in the mission!" ”

"This mission can only be attended by party members! We have written all the applications to join the party. Brigadier Pang, please let us participate! Other fighters shouted as well.

"My brother has already participated, and we have to be brothers to fight tigers, and we are here to participate in the revolution. If we die, let our brothers die together! "Someone was excited, and there was already crying in his voice.

If Pang Zi had been afraid that he would have reprimanded these comrades for fooling around a long time ago, he felt quite relieved this time. The comrades who participated in the machine gun formation were all backbones, and Pang Zi himself could not accept such consumption by so many grassroots backbones. However, without firm faith, everyone will panic in the face of the scene of thousands of war horses galloping. If the enemy had been alerted by firing in advance because of delirium, and the enemy had dismounted and launched a ground attack, not only would the fighters of these machine-gun formations not survive, but the two hundred would have died.

Only with the determination to die can there be any hope of survival if the plan is carried out exactly according to the plan. If you attack indiscriminately out of fear of death, you will surely die. This is the battlefield. At such a critical moment, only party members can be relied on.

"Take these comrades down and explain to them in detail what is going on. Tell them that we are not sending these comrades to death, let them go because they are not afraid of death. Because as long as there is one person who is afraid of death, everyone must die! Pang Zi said loudly.

The cavalry brigade of Beiyang came quickly, and as soon as Pang Zi finished arranging his position, he received information that the enemy was less than ten miles away from here. These two cavalry units were about the same size, with a full strength of more than 4,000 people. Pang Zi brought 2,000 men this time, but the enemy's troops were at full strength. "Keep going." Pang Zi said.

The troops of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army slowed down their march, but the enemy caught up with them. After all, this Tongzhou is the home of Beiyang, and the place of engagement chosen by Pang Zi is a flat land, which is quite suitable for cavalry battles, if it is not for this, the Beiyang Army will not be fooled.

More than half an hour later, Pang Zi had already received the news that the Beiyang Army had divided into two routes, all the way from the south and all the way to the east. Look at the situation is to prepare for a two-way attack.

Having arrived at the intended place, the cavalry units of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army stopped. It is a small high slope on flat land, with a large flat field to the south and a large field to the east. It is long since no ordinary people dared to stay here. So the whole field was empty.

The Southern Route Army of the Beiyang Army was relatively fast, and they also had nearly 2,000 men on this route, a little less than Pang Zi's cavalry. Moreover, Pang Zi's troops occupied a small high ground, and they were still slightly at a disadvantage in terms of form.

"Mr. Sun, do you want to attack?" The staff officer next to him asked.

"Prepare to attack immediately!" Sun Yongsheng, the commander of the Beiyang Cavalry, replied coldly. looked serious on his expression, and Sun Yongsheng's heart was not so relaxed. Of course, he knew that the attack was at a disadvantage now, but the real battles were carried out with the tacit consent of both sides, and with the overall strength advantage of the Beiyang Army twice as much, Pang Zi could naturally slip away if he refused to fight. Sun Yongsheng must give Pang Zi a strong temptation and give Pang Zi a chance to win. As long as he can defeat Sun Yongsheng, who is at a frontal disadvantage, before the attack of the Beiyang Army on the eastern flank, then Pang Zida can adjust his forces and attack the other Beiyang Army with the momentum of victory. It is likely to create an example of winning more with less.

However, if Pang Zi can't do this, then the result will be that he will be surrounded by the Beiyang Army that is attacked from both sides and annihilated. It's a gamble. Sun Yongsheng wanted to see if Pang Zi had the determination to make a bet.

Seeing that the People's Party cavalry on the opposite side of the Beiyang Army did not move, neither side dismounted before the decisive battle, but only looked at each other from a distance of four or five hundred meters.

Sun Yongsheng ordered the standard-bearers to wave the flag, and the troops assembled in an orderly formation into an offensive formation. This was the second time Sun Yongsheng had actually fought the People's Party, and he had been captured when he was in the third town of Beiyang. As Chen Ke's "relative", Sun Yongsheng was also shelved. During the great expansion of the Beiyang army, Sun Yongsheng got the opportunity and now becomes the brigade commander of the Beiyang Cavalry Brigade. If there was no entanglement with Chen Ke, Sun Yongsheng would not have been able to achieve only this position. You must know that the officers of the same rank as him in the past are now at least a division commander. Thinking of this, Sun Yongsheng's brows couldn't help frowning, and now he was going to prove himself with his combat exploits.

Sun Yongsheng closed his eyes and banished all thoughts from his mind. The last image that had nothing to do with the battle was a woman, and it was the image of Sun Yongsheng's wife, He Qian. Even though he has lost his wife for several years, Sun Yongsheng has no plans to marry again. He Qian's death is a psychological burden that Sun Yongsheng can't get over in his life. Although Sun Yongsheng has never heard of the word "psychological".

The shout that was already in his throat couldn't be shouted, Sun Yongsheng opened his eyes and took a deep breath. At this moment, he saw a People's Party cavalry on the opposite slope holding its flag high and stabbing at the ground. When the cavalry let go of his hand, the red flag was already deeply rooted in the ground, and a gust of wind blew, and the red flag hunt began.

Seeing that the enemy had already shown his attitude, Sun Yongsheng only had the idea of fighting left in his heart, "Attack," he shouted. ”

The standard-bearers of the Beiyang Army waved the cyan flag vigorously, and the gate of the formation opened. The Beiyang Army, dressed in cyan uniforms, urged their mounts to rush north.

It was only a little late that the cavalry of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army also drove their horses down from the dirt slope and from both sides of the flag. The cavalrymen in the front row fired several shots with their cavalry guns, and the troops at the front of both sides were shot and fell off their horses. But the cavalry behind showed no sign of stopping, and the sound of falling horses and screams was instantly drowned out by the rumbling roar of thousands of war horses and tens of thousands of horses' hooves hitting the ground.

Whether it was the Beiyang Army or the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, the saber was drawn from the scabbard. The commanders were followed by the standard-bearers, the flags blaring in the wind, and the tips of their sabers were invariably pointed in the direction of the enemy.

The two torrents collided in an instant.

In the Beiyang cavalry, at the forefront was a second lieutenant, his arms stretched back, and then swept forward forcefully, the trajectory drawn by the blade went straight to the enemy's left chest, as long as it was chopped, the sharp blade of the snow would cut an absolutely fatal gap in the enemy's chest.

The cavalry of the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army on the opposite side was almost in the same position, which was the standard method of cavalry combat. Everyone eats rice on the knife edge. The eyes were very sharp, and the second lieutenant Beiyang was surprised to see that his blade was the first to cut into the opponent's chest, but the blade did not cut into it at all, and there was an extremely hard layer blocking the blade.

Just a moment later, the lieutenant felt his gaze begin to rise and flip strangely, and in the midst of a whirlwind, the lieutenant saw a headless body sitting on a horse galloping away below. In a moment of confusion, the second lieutenant noticed another detail. The sabers of the North Ocean all shimmered with the metallic light after sharpening. And as far as the second lieutenant could see, the sabers of the People's Party invariably took on a dark blue color. It was an indescribable beauty.

Then the lieutenant's eyes closed slightly. The world turned black. His head fell to the ground.