108181908 Far East Maniac Chapter 337 after the victory

, in the absence of the sound of the flute. Trains puff out of the train station with billowing black smoke. Stopping at the edge of the ruined platform, the steam released from the steam engine hissed for a moment.

This is the Xiping Railway Station, it was the Beiyang Army that blew up here, and it was the engineering units of the United Front that repaired the railway, and now, the battle of Xiping has long ended, and the red flag is flying here.

As the commander of the 16th Division, Jiang Zuobin followed the train to Xiping, and it was only a few days after he left here the last time.

Although it is just a few days, in Jiang Zuobin's view, this is like being separated for a long time, but the taste in his heart is also like overturning the cruet, both sweet and sour, this time back to Xiping, the scene in front of him actually has a feeling of heaven and earth.

The last time Jiang Zuobin left Xiping, he was as a "defeated", but this time when he returned to Xiping, he returned here as a victor.

Although the Beiyang Army resisted relatively stubbornly in Xiping, under the attack of the United Front from the north and south, they only held out for half a day before collapsing, and the officers and soldiers who did not die were all put into prisoner of war camps, and Xiping returned to the hands of the revolutionary army.

The victor was the revolutionary armed forces of the United Front, as a member of this southern army, Jiang Zuobin was also excited about the victory, and his 16th Division went to attack one of the main forces.

However, the victory was not without a price, as the main feint force of the southern Henan campaign, the casualties of the 16th Division were heavier than those of the other participating troops, and the troops urgently needed to rest and recuperate, and replenish new soldiers, similarly, as one of the main battlefields, Xiping, which had been swept back and forth twice by the warring parties, also became full of devastation, and the situation in the city was slightly better, but the residential areas outside the city were seriously damaged by artillery fire. Especially in the town of Youfang, where the railway station is located. It was almost razed to the ground, and not even a single intact house could be seen.

In view of the fact that civilians who had left Xiping before the war were returning one after another, and some homeless people were in urgent need of resettlement, the United Front set up several refugee shelters near Youfang Town after occupying Xiping, and recruited strong laborers from them to participate in the repair of the railway line.

After Jiang Zuobin walked out of the railway station, he saw a group of laborers coming from inside, holding all kinds of tools, into the railway station, once all the troops of the 16th Division got off the train, these laborers will get on the train, take the train to the north, the railway north of Xiping also needs to be repaired.

In this battle, the Beiyang Army carried out no less sabotage actions on the railways than the United Front, but their actions were not "professional" enough, and the repair of some sections of the road did not require professional sappers at all, and the railway workers could guide the laborers to be competent.

Jiang Zuobin found a staff officer outside the chaotic railway station, and after asking the location of the Xiping garrison headquarters, he walked over on foot with several adjutants, while the infantry regiment followed the staff officer to the barracks.

The current Xiping Garrison Headquarters is in the west of Xiping City, using the original Xiping Chamber of Commerce, the garrison commander is Wu Luzhen, he was only appointed as the commander of the Xiping garrison yesterday, which seems to be the beginning of his regaining real power, Chief Wu obviously won back the trust of the commander-in-chief with practical actions, of course, Lan Tianwei also played a key role.

After arriving at the headquarters, Jiang Zuobin did not see Wu Luzhen, most of the officers in the headquarters were also busy, and they did not know where Wu Luzhen had gone, and later a staff officer told Jiang Zuobin that Wu Luzhen had ridden to the north half an hour ago. After inspecting the railways along the line, he may return to Xiping in the afternoon, and before leaving, he handed over command to the chief of staff, but the chief of staff is not at the headquarters now, and he is presiding over the interrogation in the prisoner of war camp. Therefore, no one has yet arranged in what direction the 16th Division should be stationed, and it will be stationed in a camp outside the city for the time being.

There were few acquaintances in the headquarters, and the officers were busy, Jiang Zuobin sat for a while, feeling that he could not help here, so he walked to the staff officer on duty to say goodbye, stood up and was about to leave the headquarters. But as soon as he walked out of the main gate, he saw two people coming inside, one was a colonel, the other was a brigadier general, but he knew both of them, the colonel was Yang Banghan, the commander of the Independent Cavalry Brigade, and the brigadier was Zhang Guoping, the adjutant of the attendant office of the General Headquarters.

It's a bit too much to say "know", in fact, Jiang Zuobin only met them in Xiaogan and Xinyang respectively, and said a few words, Jiang Zuobin is not familiar with the two.

Seeing Jiang Zuobin standing at the entrance of the headquarters, Yang Banghan and Zhang Guoping stepped forward to greet each other, and the two sides exchanged a few polite greetings, and Jiang Zuobin learned. Now Zhang Guoping is the division commander of the Independent Cavalry Division of the United Front, and Yang Banghan is already the deputy division commander, and the two are now in a relationship between superiors and subordinates.

"Didn't the Independent Cavalry Division say that it was going to garrison Shang Cai? How do you have time to get around? ”

Jiang Zuobin was a little strange, and he didn't beat around the bush, so he asked the two directly.

Zhang Guoping and Yang Banghan were both smiling, and seeing that Yang Banghan pulled up his sleeves and was about to speak, Zhang Guoping swallowed back the words that came to his mouth, and Yang Banghan answered Jiang Zuobin's question.

"In the morning, the 1st and 2nd regiments of our cavalry brigade fought a battle with a unit of the Beiyang Army to the west of Shangcai and east of Xiping. Originally, this was a rout, and the victory was not martial. However, there are a few big names here. The most famous is the "Zhengzhou Wu Tu." ”

"Zhengzhou Wu Tu,? Wu Peihu? Your cavalry division killed Wu Peihu? Wasn't his Ninth Division dispersed? How come more than 2,000 people are calling you? ”

Jiang Zuobin was very surprised, although Wu Peihu's fierce Sichuan workers in Xinyang suffered heavy losses, they were not completely annihilated, and Wu Peihu used a feint at dawn to bring a brigade of troops to the east, and since then his whereabouts have been secretive. Like the defeated Beiyang troops, this defeated army also dispersed, but judging from Yang Banghan's words, Wu Peihu obviously gathered some troops later.

"Wu Peixiang was not killed by us, he is still alive. It's just that we were captured by our cavalry, and we rushed to Xiping, where we brought these high-ranking prisoners. Wu Peihu's troops are not all the troops of the Ninth Division, which is mixed with a lot of routed soldiers who are contained on the road, this guy thinks that he can swagger away from Xinyang, but he didn't expect our cavalry to wait for him in Shangcai. ”

Yang Banghan was very excited, and said Bigo.

Jiang Zuobin nodded and said, "The cavalry did a good job, and this skill is indispensable." Xinyang City annihilated the Beiyang Fourth Division and the Seventh Division. Your cavalry division wiped out Wu Peihu's Ninth Division again, and I got a letter just now that the remnants of Cao Qian's Third Division walked to Gwangju and ran into the Revolutionary Guards coming from Gwangju head-on, and the Revolutionary Guards had so many red flags that the Third Division was frightened, disarmed without firing a shot, and handed over Cao Suo's coffin. In this way, the Second Army of the Beiyang South Advance can be regarded as the total annihilation. In this battle, our united front won a complete victory, "The Beiyang strong army, the fancy frame has collapsed." ”

"Cao Mu is dead?" Zhang Guoping and Yang Banghan were stunned.

"It is said that he died near Xinyang, it was the work of the heavy artillery, the heavy artillery blew up Cao Qian's headquarters, Cao Suo was not good at that time, and not long after the remnants of the Third Division retreated, Cao Jian died. His lieutenant snatched a coffin in the village. I put this Beiyang Tiger General on the eyelids, and I was going to take it to Anhui, but I didn't expect that the net would be wiped out in Gwangju. ”

"In this way, we really won this battle

Zhang Guoping smiled faintly, and the conversation changed. He added: "Next, will you take advantage of the victory to pursue, or consolidate the results?" Did Commander Wu reveal any news? ”

Jiang Zuobin spread his hands and said with a wry smile: "I don't know about this, you have to ask Commander Wu yourself." However, he is now inspecting the railroad in the north and will not be able to return to the headquarters in the afternoon. By the way, have you ever interrogated Wu Peihu? What is the whereabouts of Feng Guozhang, the commander of the Second Army of Beiyang South? ”

"We asked Wu Peihu and others about this, but although they are senior officers in Beiyang, they don't know the whereabouts of Feng Guozhang, Wu Peihu just said that when Xinyang's heavy artillery began to shell the division headquarters of the Ninth Division, then Feng Guozhang disappeared. Presumably he took advantage of the chaos to slip away, but in what direction he fled in what direction, Wu Peixiang didn't know, but he also said that now that the Beiyang Army has suffered this defeat, Feng Guozhang is unlikely to go back to Beijing directly to see Yuan Shikai, he is likely to hide in the concession, and he may not show up until the limelight passes, but it depends on how the situation changes. ”

After listening to Zhang Guoping's opinion, Jiang Zuobin wrinkled his brows and muttered for a moment, and said, "Is Wu Peihu's words credible?" This battle crushed the Beiyang Army. But Feng Guozhang's whereabouts are unknown, and if he is allowed to escape, it is indeed a little annoying. ”

"Since being captured, Wu Peihu has been quite honest. Maybe he wanted to leave a good impression on us, Zhang Guoping nodded.

"Good impression? What good impression can he have on Wu Peihu? Wasn't it his Ninth Division that shot at the petitioning people in Zhengzhou? He wanted to make a good impression on us, and it wasn't easy. "Jiang Zuobin

。

"So, what to do with Wu Peihu?" Zhang Guoping asked.

"Then you need to ask? Go to a court-martial, pronounce a sentence, shoot it! What else is there to hesitate about this kind of Yuan Shikai's lackey? Yang Banghan said coldly.

"That's not something we can worry about, this battle, from front to back, the commander-in-chief is well-planned, can't be admired if you don't admire it. This battle was won so neatly that in the future, those who spoke strange things would have to shut up, and the commander-in-chief proved with his actions that a person in his twenties could be the commander-in-chief and chairman of the committee

Jiang Zuobin sighed, with mixed feelings in his heart, they were all young officers, but this opportunity and strategy were incomparable.

Zhang Guoping also sighed in his heart, but he was not sighing for himself, nor for others. Rather, he is sighing for this era and sighing for the people of this era.

After this war, Beiyang's strong position will definitely decline in a short period of time, and the situation in the country may experience a short period of turmoil until a new strong bloc replaces the Beiyang bloc.

Will this new powerful bloc be the United Front? Zhang Guoping also had no bottom in his heart, after all, this group is a loose political alliance, and whether it can be well integrated depends on how the commander-in-chief formulates a strategy.

While the senior officers were discussing the possible direction of the domestic political situation, several dull whistles were heard from the direction of the railway station, and the sound of the whistle was familiar.

"Cousin train?" Zhang Guoping and Jiang Zuobin were a little surprised, they didn't expect the armored train battalion to reach Xiping so quickly.

Several people hurried to the railway station, and sure enough, they saw that the armored train was filling coal and water at the railway station. The steam from the locomotive filled the vicinity of the platform, looking like a beast taking a nap, and the bullet marks on the carriage were clearly visible, showing the ferocity of the enemy fire it withered.

The armored train battalion was followed by an attached engineer battalion, which was fully equipped and had high morale.

"Could it be that the commander-in-chief decided to take advantage of the victory and march north?"

Zhang Guoping and Jiang Zuobin speculated about the purpose of the armored train battalion to Xinyang, but they also understood that the final decision was still held by the commander-in-chief who sat in Wu Shengying.