The wheel red rì jumped out of the horizon and awakened the sleeping earth.

"Drip paralysis... Didi and..."

The wake-up call rang out in and out of the city. With the sound of trumpets, the silent city was noisy, and the soldiers who came out of the city drove out of the city with rifles loaded with bayonets and singing military songs.

"Yu Erbing, listen carefully: a poor family produces a filial son. It is difficult to see loyal ministers in the country. The state borrowed foreign debts and did not hesitate to pay heavy salaries to raise jīng soldiers. A soldier eats and wears more than 100 taels. The seven-pin county order is not as good; Regret not to contribute to the country. Heaven and earth, ghosts and gods will not tolerate it. Since ancient times, there have been many ranks, and he has returned to his hometown in fine clothes. ”

This song is both preachy and utilitarian, and as soon as you hear the lyrics, you will know that this is a soldier of the Beiyang Army. Now that the republic is republican, the lyrics have largely changed, but they have just changed the "court" into a "state". As for whether the soldiers can distinguish the difference between the court and the state, no one can say clearly. Anyway, the soldiers are still those soldiers, the officers are still those officers, and the military uniform is still the same military uniform, but the cockade has been changed, and the braid at the back of the head has been cut. In addition, the biggest difference from the previous Beiyang New Army is that the current troops are equipped with many rì guns and British guns, and as for the Manlixia rifle, it is rare.

The current Beiyang financiers are Britain and Rìben. Due to the strong anti-British and anti-anti-British stance of the revolution in the south, especially the Republican Army, the current Britain and the Republic had no choice but to increase their support for Beiyang, which was not only to express their position, but also to maintain the strong position of the Beiyang bloc.

Since ancient times, the strong soldiers and strong horses have won the world, and this truth is understood by Xi Shikai, and the British and rì本zhèngfǔ also understand.

This is Dengfeng, Henan, in the northwest of Henan Province, the administrative division is under the jurisdiction of Henan Province, the place is not big, the business is not very prosperous, the only famous place is the Shaomu Mountain in the territory, the thousand-year-old temple on the mountain can also be regarded as one of the places of interest and historic sites in the land of Zhongzhou, although it is not comparable to the cultural and historical accumulation of the ancient capital of Kaifeng City. But in this chaotic era, it is a rare place of retreat.

Of course, with the arrival of this Beiyang army, Dengfeng also became chaotic, and the people speculated about the purpose of this army to Dengfeng. Even the monks who went to the city to run errands were distracted by this murderous army, and the people even said that the monks in the temple were discussing the matter of forming a group to protect the temple, and I heard that they had also bought foreign guns from others. It was hidden in the temple.

No matter what the people said, this Beiyang army was stationed in the city for several days, and it seemed that it was planning to stay in Dengfeng City for a long time.

This Li Houji, that is not a general, this person is a person who is a native of Tongshan County, Jiangsu, and followed his father in the army when he was a teenager. Graduated from Tianjin Wubei Academy, once served Li Hongzhang as Goshha, and went to Russia with Li Hongzhang to participate in the coronation ceremony of Tsar Nicholas II, and served as a pipe band for a long time after joining the Beiyang Army, but because he was not a cronie of Yuan Shikai's small station, this career did not go well, and the reason why he was now able to be promoted to brigade commander was still stained with the light of the expansion of the Beiyang Army, and he was a small person in the Beiyang.

The acting commander of the 9th Division was Wu Peihu. He is a few years younger than Li Houji, but he is Li Houji's top boss, so Li Houji is indeed very depressed.

If he had a choice, Li Houji would prefer to stay in the Fourth Division and follow his old boss Wu Fengling, but Yuan Shikai didn't see it that way; In order to prevent his subordinates from cultivating henchmen, since the expansion of the Beiyang Army, the subordinate relationship of the various armies has been completely disrupted, and more than half of Wu Fengling's cronies and cadres have been transferred to other units, Li Houji is one of them, in order to appease these transferred officers, these people have basically been promoted, which is also the main reason why Li Houji was promoted to brigade commander, and when Wu Fengling was under him, he was only a catty. Senior staff officer, does not directly lead troops.

But now, Li Houji had to command the brigade to be stationed in Dengfeng, to keep an eye on southern Henan, to provide cover for Zhengzhou as a flank, and as a striker, to fend off possible attacks.

At present, the forces of all parties in Henan are intertwined, and they are distinguished by the stance of the "Hunan and Guizhou incident". That is the two factions that are clearly divided between the north and the south. Southern Henan is basically the territory of the Southern Revolutionary Party, while northern Henan is controlled by the Beiyang forces, from west to east, the two sides are basically divided by the line of Henan, Kaifeng, and Guide, with the southern part belonging to the Southern Revolutionary Party and the Beiyang forces to the north.

Henan Province is bordered by Sanfu to the south, Shaanzhou to the west, Ruzhou to the east, and Nanyang to the south. The three provinces are eyeing Henan Mansion on three sides, the strategic location of Henan Province is quite important, and if you hold here, you will be stuck in the northward road of the revolutionary party armed forces in southwest Henan, and if you can't hold here, the revolutionary army will be able to drive straight in, drink the Yellow River, and watch Shanxi.

Since the "Henan-Shaanxi Coalition Army" of Liu Zhenhua, a member of the alliance, was active west of Luoyang in Henan Province, the northwest of Henan Province was now open, and it was all thanks to the Beiyang Army in Luoyang City that barely maintained the situation.

Dengfeng is located in the southeast corner of Henan Province. Far away from the southeast of Ruzhou Mansion, if the enemy army in the direction of Ruzhou advances to the north, this Dengfeng area is the gateway to the southeast of Henan Province.

Therefore, Wu Peihu sent Li Houji to Dengfeng to garrison, in addition to letting him respond to the direction of Luoyang. He was also expected to guard the southeast gate of Henan Mansion. A strong army in Dengfeng can easily attract the attention of the enemy in Zhengzhou and force it to attack Dengfeng first, instead of going straight to Zhengzhou, if the enemy dares to go straight to Zhengzhou and ignore Dengfeng, then Li Houji's troops will be used as a sharp knife to deal a fatal blow to the enemy from the flank and rear.

This battle is like playing chess, and if you have set up the chess pieces, it may not really come in handy. The key is to form a deterrent that forces the enemy to abandon certain strategic attempts.

Li Houji is a chess piece in the hands of Wu Peihu and Master Wu, and it is not up to him to decide how to move, and it is not up to him to decide whether he can play the role of a chess piece.

After leading his troops to Dengfeng, Li Houji set up a brigade headquarters in the city, set up a radio station, and divided the troops into two parts, one stationed in the city and the other outside the city. Echo each other, and at the same time step up training, and personally lead the team out of the city to practice.

Of course, as a brigade commander, Li Houji did not have to run with the soldiers, he only needed to ride on a high-headed ocean horse surrounded by adjutants and wave a horsewhip, and the junior officers below would naturally coordinate the actions of the troops step by step.

Although it had only rained a few days ago, the weather was hot, the sun had already dried the ground, and the troops of 2,000 men were dispatched to run cāo, and the loess road was suddenly dusty, and from a distance, it was impossible to distinguish which was the soldier and which was the ash.

Yesterday, division commander Wu Peihu sent a telegram agreeing to transfer another artillery battalion to strengthen Dengfeng's defensive strength, but in Li Houji's view, this strength is still too thin, because his troops are not in the first place, nominally a brigade, but in fact the strength is only two catties. Regiment.

According to the spies' report, there are 5,000 members of the Endeavor Society stationed in the city of Ruzhou in the south, and thousands of troops are also stationed in Yiyang in the west of Ruzhou and Jiaxian in the east. The revolutionary army in Ruzhou was at least tens of thousands. Compared with. Dengfeng's Beiyang army was weak. It is no wonder that Li Houji sent telegrams one after another, urging Wu Peixiang to send additional reinforcements.

However, Wu Peihu really couldn't draw so many troops, and he could only ask for help from level to level, and sent telegrams to the War Department and Duan Qirui, and then he conveyed Henan's request for help to Yuan Shikai.

"Yafang comforted Yuan Shikai and did not have the spell to sprinkle the ministers into soldiers, and now the southern provinces are here, and the situation is moving." "The Russians and Rì themselves are also taking the opportunity to covet the three eastern provinces, and there are too many directions for the Beiyang Army to focus on, coupled with the shortage of military spending, and the lack of weapons. Yuan Shikai could only call back and let the generals in Henan figure it out on their own.

The method that Wu Peihu came up with was to order Fang Dahu to come forward and raise funds to raise courage to run a group, but in fact, it was just the method of going over to the Hunan army and the Huai army. This can only increase the financial burden of the local government, and can easily lead to banditry, so Wu Peihu's small method was unanimously resisted by Henan, and even Zhang Zhenfang, the speaker of the provincial parliament, could not convince the misers.

Li Houji also received an order to run a regiment. But it was also resisted by the local gentry, and those who went to visit him told him clearly that if Wu Peihu insisted on going his own way, Henan Zhushen would jointly write to the Provincial Assembly to impeach Wu Peihu and ask President Yuan to transfer him.

Li Houji had already conveyed the meaning of Zhu Shen to Wu Peihu by telegram, but he also knew it. According to Wu Peihu's xìng ge, it is difficult for him to take back this order, and the truth of the "popular uprising" in Zhengzhou a few days ago Li Houji is very clear, and he can't believe that a martial artist who treats human life as a mustard will pay attention to "public opinion." ”

In fact, not only Wu Peihu does not pay attention to public opinion, but the entire Beiyang does not take this public opinion in his eyes, for these martial artists, the barrel of the gun determines everything, and the actual situation is indeed the case, if there is no Beiyang army, Yuan Shikai will definitely not be the president of the Republic of China, even if it is the temporary president of the Republic of China.

Whether the will of the people is public or not, Li Houji himself does not care. For a person who has entered the age of no doubt. He was now more concerned with the guests he should invite on his birthday.

In a few days, it will be Li Houji's 40th birthday, and his subordinates have already begun to make a big event for the brigade commander's birthday, as for whether to hold a birthday banquet in Dengfeng or Zhengzhou, Li Houji has not yet made up his mind, after all, in this situation, it is difficult to say when the north and the south will go to war. If Dengfeng started a war when the birthday banquet was held in Zhengzhou, I am afraid that Wu Peihu would definitely personally send a "generous gift" to Li Houji, maybe it would be a brigade commander's head.

But if you don't hold a birthday banquet in Zhengzhou, how many distinguished guests will rush to this poor countryside to congratulate Li Houji on his birthday? If you can't take the opportunity to contact and contact feelings, then why should Li Houji be promoted again

What a dilemma.

Just as Li Houji was pondering the details of his life, the high-headed oceanhorse under his crotch suddenly became noisy, not only speeding up his running speed. And it kept hissing, as if it was frightened by something.

Li Houji finally reined in the war horse, stroked the horse's mane with his hand, quieted the war horse, and listened attentively, but heard a strange "buzzing" sound, low and distant, but at the same time approaching this side.

At this time, the soldiers who came out of the cāo also noticed the sound coming from the sky, and looked up in curiosity, and saw a small black dot in the sky, and the formation suddenly became chaotic.

Finally restraining the troops, Li Houji ordered to rest in place, and he himself jumped off his horse. Stand under a dead tree on the side of the road and look up at the strange sight in the sky.

"Sir, this is the plane?. An adjutant asked in a whisper.

Li Houji just nodded slightly and did not speak. During the War for the Founding of the People's Republic of China, rumors that the Republican Army dispatched planes to bomb Chengdu had long been spread, and Li Houji had heard a little, but this was the first time he had seen a real plane flying in the sky, and there were some doubts in the novelty.

Since learning that the Republican Army was equipped with airplanes, Yuan Shikai also had a strong interest in this new weapon, and specially sent someone to consult the British minister, who was also very happy when he arrived, and immediately sent professionals to explain this new machine to President Yuan, and also promised to help the Beiyang Army purchase planes as soon as possible. Although the plane had not yet arrived, Yuan Shikai had already sent the relevant documents to officers at all levels, so that they could get to know this new concubine machine, so as not to make a fuss and mess up the morale of the army.

Mr. Lee had carefully studied the documents, and he had found a problem, that is, the machine could not fly far, a few miles at most. Therefore, if he can see the plane near Dengfeng, then the take-off place of this plane must not be far from Dengfeng City.

Soon, the plane flew over the heads of this Beiyang unit from a low altitude, causing the officers and men to shout loudly.

Seeing the red flag painted under the wings clearly, Li Houji's uneasiness in his heart became more and more intense.

"Brigade commander, the plane is flying low, can we shoot?" A pound. The staff officer asked.

"Don't provoke yourself."

Li Houji shook his head, he didn't want to bear the charge of "the scourge of the war between the north and the south", since the "Hunan and Guizhou Incident", Yuan Shikai's attitude has been in an ambiguous state, although he has moved troops southward on a large scale, and refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the rebel army. But what his idea is, his subordinates can't guess, maybe there are people in the top level of Beiyang who can understand President Yuan's true intentions, but a small person like Li Houji. But he didn't have a full grasp of what he wanted.

Now that none of the revolutionaries in the south fired the first shot at the Beiyang Army, then the Beiyang Army should naturally take restraint as the top.

"Restraint is the supreme thing" These are the original words of Duan Qirui, acting chief of the War Department, and no one knows whether it is a paraphrase of Yuan Shikai's words.

Therefore, it is better to respond to all changes with the same.

However, the uneasiness in Lee's heart did not disappear. His eyes followed the low-flying small plane, guessing the other party's intentions.

It was a Republican plane, and you could see a plane painted with the iron-blooded republican flag in Dengfeng. This is not reassuring in any way. Because Ruzhou is south of Dengfeng, and the two places are nearly 100 miles apart, according to the British, it is impossible for the current planes to go back and forth at such a long distance

Yes.

The only explanation is that Endeavor has advanced towards Dengfeng City, and it is already very close to Dengfeng City. Only in this way can the safe take-off and landing of the allied aircraft be guaranteed.

But why didn't the scouts and spies come back? Was it killed by the revolutionary army?

Thinking of the intermittent telegraph lines in the south in recent days, Li Houji suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. Hurriedly ordered the troops to turn around, rush back to Dengfeng City as quickly as possible, and sent cavalry to walk in front, ordering the remaining troops to immediately seal the city and prepare for battle.

Riding on a high-headed oceanic horse, Li Houji turned his head to look at the plane that was moving away, and the anxiety in his heart was already written on his face.

"Could it be that the war between the North and the South began? Endeavour would be so arrogant, it would not have been possible without the support of the Republican Army. Is that Commander Zhao of the Republican Army really confident that he will defeat Beiyang in one fell swoop? ”

Recalling the scene when he led the fourth town of Beiyang to return north through Wuhan, Li Houji didn't believe that Zhao Bei would have a showdown with Beiyang at this time. Although he had only met Zhao Bei once, his intuition told him that the commander-in-chief of the Republican Army was not a reckless man, and foreign newspapers called him a "madman from the Far East", but that was only on the surface.

Li Houji believes that there is a meticulous heart hidden under the appearance of Zhao Bei's "madman", otherwise he would not have become the vanguard of the revolution in the south and even in the whole of China.

How could such a person not judge the situation?

Beiyang is not so easy to win, and if you want to have a showdown with Beiyang at this time, you have to be prepared to lose again.