108041908 Far East Maniac Chapter 323 Between North and South

With the sound of seven flutes, a train is speeding in the wilderness of southern Henan.

This is not a train that has been passed, the heavy steel armor on both sides of the locomotive glows with fresh paint in the sun, and the muzzles of black holes sticking out of the cannon windows silently deter everything in sight.

This is an armored train, which is directly under the General Headquarters of the Republican Army, organized as a train battalion, and the battalion commander's department is run and false.

This armored train had been resting at the Wushengguan railway station for the past few days, and it was not until this morning that it received an order from the commander-in-chief, and then it left the hidden platform. Heading north to Xinyang, the engineer battalion attached to the train battalion had already rushed to Xinyang and sent the two heavy fortress guns to the front line.

At dawn today, the battle of Xinyang officially began, and the decisive battle between the north and the south of Henan officially began.

At this moment, he was standing on the platform behind an armored carriage, holding on to the steel railing, looking into the distance, trying to calm his agitated emotions.

In order to become the battalion commander of this armored train battalion. The ministry can be regarded as a painstaking effort.

The Ministry of Electrical Mines used to be the head of the Electric Mine Division, with the rank of colonel, in charge of all electricity-related affairs of the Republican Army, and his scope of authority was quite large, and this position was also quite noticeable. Originally, as a revolutionary from the Qunzhi Society, he did not follow the Qunzhi Society to Henan and Shaanxi, and the director of the department was still very respected in the eyes of the commander-in-chief Zhao Bei. He can sit down peacefully in the position of the head of this electric mine department, accumulate qualifications, and then slowly rise through the ranks of the military and political circles to get ahead. However, in the end, the enemy chose a more challenging life path, and would rather give up the opportunity to command the cavalry brigade than to be a battalion commander in this armored train battalion.

In the past, there was no colonel and battalion commander in the Republican Army, but there was only one, which was a special exception. Although Tian Jinfu served as the commander of the guard battalion of the General Headquarters with the rank of colonel, after all, he was a confidant of the commander-in-chief, and sooner or later he would be entrusted with important tasks, so although Tian Jinfu was only a battalion commander, no one would really regard him as a battalion commander, and even the division commanders and brigade commanders of the Republican Army were polite when they saw the face of the battalion commander Tian. He never called him "Camp Commander Tian".

But the armored train battalion is not the same as the guard battalion of the General Headquarters, this is just a combat unit. At best, it is just a little more technical than other branches of the military, and it is not as noble as the air force. In terms of scale, it can't compare with the navy, and such a force is chicken ribs in the eyes of others. It looks a little mouthwatering, but if you really eat it, you don't have much chew, so serving as the commander of the armored train battalion with the rank of colonel is not an advantage in the eyes of most officers.

But Zou Runjing does not see it that way, as the chief officer of the electric mine department, he is fortunate to participate in the entire development and experimental process of the armored train, he knows very well what kind of unit this is, Commander-in-Chief Zhao Bei has made it very clear, this is a new type of force that integrates firepower, mobility, and armor, this is the cruiser on land! In front of it. There is no enemy that cannot be despised except for the future Air Force.

Air force? Just the kind of plane made of wood and canvas, just the kind of plane that can only fly at low altitude after being loaded with a two-pound little pilot? How optimistic the commander-in-chief is is the commander-in-chief's business, at least help Runjing does not believe that this kind of "air force" can be coerced by armored trains, in the opinion of the director of the department, if you want to appreciate the rapid development of military science and technology in this era, the best choice is to go to the armored train battalion.

So, the ministry recommended himself and submitted an application to the commander-in-chief, requesting to join the armored train battalion, even if he couldn't be the battalion commander, at least he had to get a company commander.

There was already a "colonel battalion commander" in the Republican Army. "If there is one more" colonel company commander. It would be too unusual, but the Ministry of Runxian had a resolute attitude, and he had the posture that if he did not go to the armored train battalion, he would return to the countryside, and even the position of the commander of the independent cavalry brigade could not change his decision.

Therefore, after weighing it, Zhao Bei changed the candidate and appointed the Ministry Runxian as the commander of the train battalion, so that there would be two colonels and battalion commanders in the republican army.

In this way, the battalion commander led the armored train battalion on the journey with great ambition, and he was determined to prove to the world that his choice was correct. And the Commander-in-Chief's views are also ahead of their time. The battlefield of the future will definitely be a battlefield of firepower, mobility, and armor, and whoever will win the opponent in this regard. Whoever will be the king and the winner on the battlefield. ”

The dull sound of the train's whistle interrupted Bu Runxian's thoughts, and he turned his head to look over to the other side of the roadbed.

Fields, villages, roads, farmland, many scenery quickly passed by, fleeting, this feeling is really wonderful, a kind of pride that defies the balance of pride stirred in Zou Runjiao's chest, and the emotions that had finally calmed down became high-spirited again.

"The speed is not fast enough, I heard that there is a new type of locomotive in Britain, the speed is close to the limit of the steam engine, if you can buy that kind of locomotive, it will only be an hour or two from Wusheng Pass to Xinyang. On the battlefield, it's all about speed. ”

Bu Runjian sighed in his heart, turned around and walked into the carriage, and asked a staff officer.

"How far is it from Xinyang Railway Station?"

"There are still more than twenty miles, but there is a small station ahead, and we will stop there a little to make way for a southward marching column."

Zou Runxian nodded, looked at the map on the table, and sighed: "Xinyang is the place where our armored train battalion is famous in the sea."

Just when the commander of the Republican Army's armored train battalion, Xi, led his troops on the southern Henan line of the Jinghan Railway, in Anhui, a neighboring province to the east of Henan. There is also a force on the trek of a long "seven.

This is a cavalry unit of the Beiyang Army. The number is not much, but more than two hundred, less than a catty, the strength of the battalion.

But the status of the officer commanding this army is not comparable to a battalion commander, this officer's name is Xu Shuzheng, a native of Xiao County, Jiangsu, Xiucai was born, and later became a guest of the Beiyang veteran Duan Qirui, and was promoted by the Duan family a few years ago. After the republic, he served as the deputy chief of staff of the First Army of the People's Republic of China, and was promoted to the director of the Military Science Department of the Ministry of War and the senior military adviser of the presidential office. and Zhang Xiaozhun, who has learned everything from east to west, are frequent visitors to the presidential palace.

From this you can see the uniqueness of this small cavalry unit.

In fact, a few days after Xu Shuzheng left the presidential palace in Beijing, after going south from the Beijing-Hanzhou Railway, he first arrived in Zhengzhou, met with Zhang Zhenfang, the speaker of the Henan parliament, and then transferred to Kaifeng to the east, and met with Zhao Qi, the governor of Henan who was sitting in Kaifeng, and then led the cavalry to form a guard in the later part of the day. rushed to Bozhou in one go, so that even if you entered northern Anhui.

Xu Shuzheng wanted to go to Fengyang, an important town in the north of Aihui. It is now the headquarters of the Yi Army of Anhui town guard Jiang Guidi, who went to Fengyang, Xu Shuzheng went to visit Jiang Guidi, as the "Henan, Anhui, Shaanxi and Hubei Governor Military Envoy".

When he arrived in Bozhou, he rested for a while, and after changing horses, Xu Shuzheng rushed to Fengyang at the same time. They were advancing along the vortex river, and it was convenient to supply along the way, so they walked extremely fast, and by today, more than 200 of them have arrived in Mengcheng. It's only a day or two away from Fengyang.

Xu Shuzheng originally planned to rest in Mengcheng for a while, stay for one night and then leave, but when he led his subordinates to Mengcheng, he changed his mind and decided not to stay in Mengcheng, but rushed directly to Fengyang.

The main reason for Xu Shuzheng's change of mind was that he met a team of Yijun horses on the outskirts of the city. There were not many people, more than 500 people, and they were rushing to the city from outside the city, Xu Shuzheng went up to inquire and learned that they had withdrawn from the twenty miles south of Mengcheng, because they had received an order from the top to withdraw to Mengcheng to gather, and then withdraw to Fengyang.

This withdrawal order was given by Jiang Gui. Xu Shuzheng was quite surprised, so he had to change his mind about staying in Mengcheng and decided to rush to Fengyang directly. Meet with Jiang Guidi as soon as possible to find out the bottom of this veteran general.

Since the announcement of the congressional election, the Beiyang side has considered the need to use force to force the powerful factions in the south to compromise, so it has decided to increase its efforts to win over the wall-riding factions such as Jiang Guidi and Zhao Tong, who are sandwiched between the north and the south, and take a cautious wait-and-see stance on the current north-south conflict. If you want to win them over, Beiyang must be willing to pay the capital, Jiang Guidi wants to be the governor of Anhui, Yuan Shikai weighed it, and finally decided to hand over the position of governor of Anhui to Jiang Guidi, and the appointment was officially announced the day before yesterday.

But why did Jiang Guidi not only not immediately send troops to the west to attack Hubei and Henan after the appointment was announced, but instead transferred the cavalry troops from the west back to Fengyang?

Xu Shuzheng felt that there was something strange here, but he couldn't guess what it was now. Since the confrontation between the north and the south, although the Yi army has gathered its troops in the Fengyang area according to the order of the presidential palace, it has made a posture of marching westward. But no one knows what Jiang Guidi's idea is, now the north and the south have developed from quarrel to war, who can win this war, it is still unclear, perhaps, Jiang Guidi and Zhao Wei still want to wait and see, in order to stand on the side of the winner at a critical time.

In this regard, Xu Shuzheng can see clearly.

Although Beiyang has the support of Britain and Japan, the two countries are now stubbornly supporting Beiyang, after all, the victory of the parliamentary election has enabled the powerful faction in the south to win a certain amount of support in the international community, although Beiyang uses force under the guise of the "decree on the unification of the north and the south," but in the controversy of international public opinion, Beiyang is lagging behind, not to mention, the United States and Germany have been seeking greater interests in China. Although the two countries have not yet made it clear that they support the powerful faction in the south, as long as the Beiyang Army loses on the battlefield, then the United States and Germany will inevitably be the first powers to fall into the ground.

But then again, it is indeed not an easy task for the powerful factions in the south to defeat the Beiyang Army on the battlefield, although the United Front won the parliamentary election, but this does not mean that the united front is really a stone, the various political factions that make up this political alliance are playing their own small calculations, and now that the parliamentary election has been won, their rifts have also been exposed, and this. It is also an important reason why Yuan Shikai is determined to use force to solve the powerful faction in the south.

Xu Shuzheng himself is also the main battle, and in his opinion, the powerful faction in the south must be solved as soon as possible. Especially the Republican Army clique, because according to various indications, this military and political clique is the most dynamic and powerful faction in the south, compared with it, the twilight of the Beiyang bloc is obvious, if it cannot be defeated in one fell swoop, then it is very likely that this small will rise in the "Wushen Revolution" in the future to replace the position of Beiyang. of the Republican Army bloc.

"The people in the South want to win this battle? I'm just afraid that it will be a little more difficult, at most the north and the south will make peace, and when the time comes, you Jiang Lao Guo will only become a mouse in the bellows

Xu Shuzheng looked back at the already vague Mengcheng city wall, and then with a wave of his horsewhip, the cavalry team of more than 200 people rolled forward wrapped in yellow dust again, and disappeared on the horizon in a short time.