108301908 Far Eastern Maniac summons a monthly pass

In front of the train station, there was a crowd of people, and the soldiers in charge of maintaining the autumn order waved their sticks in vain in an attempt to get the shouting people back in line.

But no matter how hard the soldiers tried, people still rushed to the entrance of the train station. Because the rumbling of artillery in the distance is getting closer and closer, it sounds like thunder, which indicates that the fighting in the southern region is spreading to Zhengzhou, which further increases the fear of the people.

Although the railway is blocked from time to time, if we talk about the safest and most convenient means of transportation, we also count the fire specialty, the war is chaotic, the local banditry is serious, and the train has a road police escorting the car, which is much safer than taking a mule car.

All those who wanted to go gathered in front of the train station. The people were not afraid that the revolutionary army in the south would enter the city, but that the short-sighted shells would fall on their heads, because Bao Guiqing, the commander of Zhengzhou's city defense, said that he would defend Zhengzhou for Yuan Shikai and Yuan Laoshuai, and threatened to live and die with Zhengzhou.

It doesn't matter whether Bao Guiqing is telling the truth or not, and no one cares whether he has the determination to live and die with Zhengzhou, but his position actually reflects Beiyang's position.

Since the defeat of southern Henan, Beiyang urgently needs to rein in people's hearts and restore the military strength of concubines, for Beiyang. Now we must hold Zhengzhou, and controlling Zhengzhou is equivalent to controlling the Jinghan line and losing Zhengzhou. One of the most important transportation hubs on the Jinghan line will fall into the hands of the Southern Revolutionary Army, then. Not only could Kaifeng in the east be undefended, but even the Zhili and Beijing-Tianjin regions would directly face the bayonets of the Southern Revolutionary Army.

Therefore, the order issued by Yuan Shikai was to "stick to Zhengzhou", and Pao Guiqing also said that he would act in accordance with Yuan Laoshuai's orders.

But whether he can hold Zhengzhou, Pao Guiqing has no bottom in his heart, since the Second Army of the Beiyang Southward Advance was wiped out in southern Henan, the strength of the Beiyang troops in Henan immediately became overstretched, Pao Guiqing can actually directly command the troops only his Second Division Fourth Brigade, even if some other miscellaneous troops are added, the total strength is less than 10,000 people, and how many of these troops are trustworthy, Pao Guiqing has no confidence in this, there is the battle of Xuzhou ahead, He had no confidence in these motley troops.

Urgent telegrams were sent to the War Department in Beijing, asking for reinforcements and additional military salaries, but the contents of the reply from Duan Qirui, acting chief of the War Department, were basically the same: First. The southeast is tight, Beijing and Tianjin also need to be defended, there are no extra troops to adjust, I hope Bao Guiqing will find a way by himself; Second, the great powers suspended borrowing, and it still took time to raise funds on their own, so the military salaries of the Beiyang soldiers could not be increased, and it was not easy to guarantee the full salary.

No soldiers, no pay, how can this win the war? The Beiyang Army is a war machine, and the military salary is the lubricating oil that ensures the normal operation of this machine, without enough lubricating oil, even if this machine can run, it will definitely "creak", not to mention, this machine has long been outdated, full of rust, and the current situation. Nor is this war machine capable of coping with it in any way.

Make a posture of sticking to Zhengzhou, Bao Guiqing is just doing his best, as for whether he can defend it, he can only obey the destiny of heaven, no one is a fool these days, Pao Guiqing said that he wants to live and die with Zhengzhou, this is just his own statement, as for what the officers and soldiers below think. It's not something that the artillery commander can control.

Pao Guiqing's city defense headquarters is currently located at the north station of the railway station, and his own statement is that it is convenient to sit in the town and direct traffic, but others have no way to guess what he really thinks, but one fact is. Just next to platform No. 1 of Zhengzhou North Railway Station, there is a special train with only a few carriages. The locomotive is the latest American goods, with great horsepower and high speed, and the train is guarded by Pao Guiqing's guards, and someone who is sensitive may be able to get something out of this special train.

Feng Guozhang and Feng Dashuai can abandon the troops and escape, Bao Guiqing and Bao Dashuai may not be loyal to Beiyang.

No matter what others speculate, at least for the time being, Pao Guiqing is still sitting in the city defense headquarters, after all, judging from the front-line battle report transmitted back at noon, the troops of the United Front are still more than ten miles away from Zhengzhou. And there is no sign of launching a general offensive at present, the artillery sound from afar is just the artillery of the Beiyang Army for their own troops, and they also use this artillery bombardment to provide cover for the orderly retreat of the artillery units, because it is too dangerous to stay outside the city, the armored train of the United Front is on the nearby railway line, and the artillery positions of the Beiyang Army are mainly scattered on both sides of the railway, and both sides are focusing on the Jinghan Railway.

In addition to Bao Guiqing, there is only one senior officer in the headquarters, and the other senior officers are basically sent to the front line to supervise the battle; at this time, without senior officers in charge, the combat effectiveness of the grassroots units of the Beiyang Army is very problematic.

Cheng Shihui is the chief staff officer of the Fourth Brigade of the Second Division of the Beiyang Army, equivalent to the brigade chief of staff of the UNITED Front troops, and he is also a graduate of the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer School.

Originally, Cheng Shihui thought that this battle in southern Henan would not be very fierce, after all, many of the generals on both sides were classmates and old friends, but the fiasco of the Second Army of Beiyang Southward Advance shattered Cheng Shihui's good wishes, and he was surprised to find that this north-south war. In other words, the united front of the South turned a civil war into a national war, and this war was doomed to be very tragic from the beginning.

This can be seen from the casualties of the senior generals of the Second Army of the Beiyang Southward Advance, three of the four division commanders were killed, one was captured, and the cruelty of the war made Cheng Shihua a little depressed, if this is really a war to resist foreign invading forces, this casualty rate is still reasonable, but this is indeed a civil war.

In the brutal civil war, Cheng Shipu regretted joining the army a little

"Staff Officer Cheng, you go and shoot another telegram. To the War Department and to General Duan, tell them that Zhengzhou is empty of troops and urgently needs reinforcements, and they really can't draw troops, so they will transfer some of the Zhao Kui troops in Kaifeng. In addition, he sent another telegram to Zhao Kui, the governor of Henan, with careful wording, and told him that Zhengzhou could not be defended, and Kaifeng could not be defended. When the time comes, no one will be able to get better

Before Pao Guiqing's words were finished, a staff officer walked in from outside the headquarters, stood in front of Bao, and Guiqing muttered a few words.

"Where has Lee Hou-gi gone now?

Pao Guiqing hurriedly walked to the military map hanging on the wall, his eyes wandering over the map.

The staff officer said: "The telegram from Naxi said that now that Li Houji's troops have rushed to Gongxian, whether he should go to Luoyang in the west or Zhengzhou, Li Houji is waiting for orders from the War Department

"Staff Officer Cheng, you immediately send another telegram to inform the War Department, and be sure to ask General Duan for an order. It would be better to transfer Li Houji's unit to Zhengzhou, and it would be better to be able to combine it with the Fourth Brigade. In addition, now that the southern army is advancing northward in a big way, and Shaanxi is also the stronghold of the southern army, it seems that there is no need to hold on to western Henan, and the defenders of Huangguan should also withdraw to Shanxi immediately. ”

Pao Guiqing ordered, and Cheng Shihui immediately began to draft the telegram, but for Bao Guiqing's suggestion, he thought it was unlikely to be accepted by Duan Qirui.

Now is the time for each man to take care of each other. Bao Guiqing arranged this way, it may not be without his own plans, Li Houji was originally the brigade commander of the Ninth Division of the Beiyang Army, Wu Peihu was his top boss, when the Ninth Division attacked Xinyang, Li Houji did not act with the main force, and still led two regiments to garrison Dengfeng, responsible for watching the Southern Army troops in the direction of Ruzhou Mansion! Gong defended the southeast of Luoyang, but the southern army did not attack Dengfeng, until the second army of the Beiyang southward march was annihilated, Dengfeng was still calm, only some small units of the southern army were active. Due to the sharp turn of the war, Beiyang had to shrink the defensive line, and transferred Li Houji's troops stationed in Dengfeng to Gongxian on the edge of the Yellow River, which is a key station on the planned Longhai railway line, although the railway has not yet been repaired to Luoyang, but the railway between Gongxian and Zhengzhou has been basically repaired, Beiyang intends to use Li Houji's troops as a reserve, stationed in Gongxian, to the east can reinforce Zhengzhou, to the west can reinforce Luoyang.

However, there was no railway available between Gongxian and Luoyang, and the troops were slow to move, so in Pao Guiqing's view, instead of transferring Li Houji's troops to Luoyang, it was better to transfer them to Zhengzhou nearby, at least move quickly, and there was no concern about being cut off from the back road.

Bao Guiqing's wishful thinking is beautiful. But Cheng Shihui was not optimistic about Commander Bao's little suggestion, because the Beiyang master in the direction of Huangguan and Luoyang would be Wu Guangxin, who was not an ordinary person, that Commander Wu was the brother-in-law of Duan Qirui, the acting chief of the War Department, and now that the situation was tense, where did Duan Qirui have a reason not to save his brother-in-law first?

Cheng Shipu did not remind Pao Guiqing of this. Because it's useless to remind, Pao Guiqing, like Wu Peihu, looks down on Wu Guangxin, a "rising star" in Beiyang who relies on his skirt relationship. Speaking of which, Pao Guiqing should be regarded as the veteran of Beiyang, but now he is listed as the brigade commander with a stunned young man, this breath Bao Guiqing can't swallow, in this catty. On the issue, he also has an opinion on Duan Qirui.

The telegram was drafted, handed over to Bao Guiqing for review, and after signing, it was handed over to the adjutant to take to the telegraph room for filming.

The adjutant left the headquarters with his front foot, and Zhang Zhenfang, the speaker of the Henan Provincial Assembly, walked into the headquarters with a strange look, and this person was not from Cao Tong. He is Yuan Shikai and Yuan Laoshuai's cousin. It's so intertwined, if you want to rise step by step in this circle of power, you have to rely on. One depends on relationships, the second depends on relatives, and the third relies on seniority. Fourth, relying on money, Wu Guangxin and Zhang Zhenfang are the representatives of this power network.

Since Zhang Zhenfang arrived in Henan, Bao Guiqing has always been the only speaker of Zhang, and it is precisely by relying on Pao Guiqing's troops that Zhang Zhenfang was able to suppress Zhao Wei, the governor of Henan, and became the de facto "king of Henan." Small.

Seeing Zhang Zhenfang coming, Pao Guiqing was very surprised, and hurriedly greeted him.

"Why is the Speaker here?"

Zhang Zhenfang glanced left and right, pulled Bao Guiqing to the window and whispered, "Commander Cannon, can your train drive now?" ”

"Why does the Speaker ask such a question? Bao Guiqing's heart sank.

"You and I are not outsiders, so I'll tell you the truth. Just now, an old Kaifeng sent me a telegram, saying that Zhao Qi, the governor of Henan, was going to rebel. If you want to surrender to the United Front, you are now in secret discussions with the lobbyists of the United Front. I asked you for a train, I wanted to go to Kaifeng, can I save the situation? Zhao Wei has tens of thousands of guns under his command, and his strength should not be underestimated. ”

After listening to Zhang Zhenfang's words, Bao Guiqing hurriedly ordered someone to prepare the train, but did not move his special train, but prepared another locomotive.

This locomotive was originally used to pull passenger trains, but it was misappropriated by Bao Guiqing, so it was. The order at the railway station was suddenly chaotic, and those people who had bought tickets but could not get on the train and leave Zhengzhou clashed with the Beiyang Army guarding the railway station, and cold gunfire rang out from time to time near the headquarters of Pao Guiqing.

"Pass the order! Those who dare to storm the headquarters will be killed! ”

Standing in front of the window and looking at the people who were in turmoil, Pao Guiqing had to order vigilance.

At this time, he suddenly remembered the incident when Wu Peihu shot at the petitioners in Zhengzhou, and he didn't think about it at the time, thinking that Wu Peixiang was too impulsive, but now, Pao Guiqing suddenly found that he was in the same predicament as Wu Peihu.

And this dilemma is not something that Bao Guiqing can solve alone, but I am afraid that even the small collective of Beiyang can do nothing about it.

Thank you all for your support. By the way, summon a monthly pass.