On August 12, 1919, Duan Zhigui and Xu Shuzheng, the right wing of Wu Peifu, saw that there was no hope of victory on the Hunan battlefield, they lost their pawns and protected their cars, ignored Wu Peifu and the 15th Division of the Frontier Army, who were fighting on the frontal battlefield, and broke away from the Hunan battlefield!

First Sun Chuanfang gave up his position under Zhang Xiaohuai's sharp attack, and then Duan Zhigui and Xu Shuzheng, this time, Wu Peifu's two wings were opened.

Zhang Xiaohuai and Li Zongren, outflanked from both flanks, and Liu Zhaocheng's troops in front of them had formed a three-fold raid on Wu Peifu's Beiyang Army.

At the same time, the Beiyang Army, which was besieging the Hunan army in the direction of Yuezhou, also began to retreat in a big way. The Hunan army, which had freed up its hands, began to gradually control the Yuezhou line.

On the 13th, the Northern Expeditionary Army, which had controlled the waterway, began to transport a large number of troops, and the newly formed 51st and 52nd divisions were independently mixed into the 37th Brigade, which was transported by naval ships and landed in a large way.

The Northern Expeditionary Army, which landed, immediately made contact with the Hunan army, and after controlling Yuezhou and other places, completely surrounded Wu Peifu.

More than 200,000 Beiyang troops were besieged on the front line of Changsha, and around them was a huge encirclement.

Subsequently, the Northern Expeditionary Army, reinforced from Guizhou and Guangxi, also arrived at the Hunan battlefield, cutting off the last trace of survival of the Beiyang Army.

The overall situation of Hunan has been decided!

On the 15th, Wang Hengyue, president of the Southern Nationalist Government, sent a telegram, urging Wu Peifu to lay down his arms and surrender to avoid more casualties, and promised Wu Peifu to retain all of the Third Division and reorganize it into the Nationalist Army.

Less than half a day after Wang Hengyue's short telegram was sent, the Hubei Fourth Mixed Brigade announced its surrender. Subsequently, the 51st Mixed Brigade also surrendered to the frontal Northern Expeditionary Army.

And like dominoes, the first one was toppled

Wu Peifu took a very strange attitude towards Wang Hengyue's urging telegram, neither agreeing nor refusing, but chose to ignore the urging telegram for the time being.

This attitude was very strange even to his subordinates. Fight or surrender, what does Yushuai's attitude mean?

On the 16th, the 19th Division of Hubei also followed in the footsteps of its companions and surrendered to the Northern Expeditionary Army.

In just two days, the Beiyang Army, which had one division and two brigades, chose to lay down its arms and surrender, and the situation was already precarious for Wu Peifu.

On the same day, Wu Peifu summoned all the officers above the regimental level of the Third Division, as well as Sun Chuanfang and the commanders of his three divisions.

Wu Peifu took out Wang Hengyue's urging telegram in front of everyone, and after letting all the officers read it, he said: "Fight, you must not be able to fight, what are you going to do now?" ”

Sun Chuanfang hesitated there: "Commander-in-chief, the war is difficult, our army is under heavy encirclement, and every minute our people surrender to the Northern Expeditionary Army, and I will definitely not be able to hold it."

When he said this, he said no more, and everyone understood what he meant.

Zhang Fulai, commander of the Sixth Infantry Brigade, stood up with a "huh": "Yushuai, fight!" We still have more than 10,000 troops in the Third Division, we still have artillery, we still have so many troops, we are a stone, even if it is broken, we will let the Northern Expeditionary Army break a few teeth! ”

Wu Peifu had a smile on his face: "Everyone, I want to ask you a question, if we surrender now, what are we?" The general of the defeated army, the general! Since ancient times, the generals have mostly not been reused! In the past, Tang Jiyao of Yunnan went to the wilderness and was invited out of Yunnan by Wang Hengyue, Lu Rongting of Guangxi went to the wilderness and invited Wang Hengyue to Hong Kong, and Feng Yuxiang of Shaanxi went to the wilderness and was invited by Wang Hengyue to go abroad for investigation. Those of us who are soldiers are not like this, but we don't see it much better. ”

As soon as these words came out, Sun Chuanfang also nodded slightly.

"So even if we don't fight, we are not surrendering, but conditional peace talks, so peace talks must have the capital of peace talks, what is this cost? One word, type! Wu Peifu's voice was very calm: "I decided to give up all the peripheral positions in Changsha and stick to Changsha, as long as we can hold out in Changsha for a month, we will have the capital for peace talks!" Ladies and gentlemen, I am not for my own business, if I surrender, no matter how bad it is, I will come to the sea for investigation, I am for the sake of you! ”

The generals nodded frequently after hearing this, and finally understood Wu Peifu's intentions by now.

Wu Peifu smiled slightly: "So after I received Wang Hengyue's telegram, I neither agreed nor refused, in order to leave room for future negotiations." If you are willing to listen to me, then you will retreat to Changsha with me, and tens of thousands of troops will be enough for the Northern Expeditionary Army to gnaw for a while. If you refuse to listen to me, please surrender to the Northern Expeditionary Army with your troops now, everyone is a brother, and I, Wu Peifu, will not embarrass you! ”…,

"Yushuai, we all listen to you?" Li Jichen said first.

Sun Chuanfang finally understood Wu Peifu's hard work, this is for the sake of his future in the future, even if he can't defeat the Northern Expeditionary Army, he has to fight once, and he said angrily at the moment: "Since the commander-in-chief is so hardworking, then what else do we have to say?" All three divisions under my command are willing to obey the orders of the commander-in-chief! ”

All the generals also expressed their willingness to obey Wu Peifu's command.

Seeing that everyone was on the same page, Wu Peifu was a little relieved. The Third Division is his own descendant troops, which can be trusted, and Sun Chuanfang will definitely not have two hearts for the sake of his own future. If Changsha had these troops, Wu Peifu firmly believed that he would be able to hold it for a month.

After assigning the tasks of each division, Li Jichen suddenly asked: "Yushuai, what about those who refuse to follow us to defend Changsha?" ”

Wu Peifu's expression was a little gloomy, and he sighed softly: "It's going to rain, and my mother is going to get married, let them go." Anyway, it was not the foreigners who surrendered, but our Chinese troops."

As soon as Wu Peifu gave the order, the troops were quickly mobilized.

The Third Division was the first to take the initiative to leave the battlefield and retreat to Changsha City, followed by Sun Chuanfang's three divisions also entering Changsha one after another.

The officers of several divisions knew that they were fighting for their own future and destiny, so the originally low morale suddenly became excited.

When Wu Peifu mobilized a large number of troops to prepare to defend Changsha, the 48th Mixed Brigade of Beiyang, the 11th Division, and the 1st Mixed Brigade of Shandong also chose to surrender to the Northern Expeditionary Army.

But Wu Peifu doesn't care about all this anymore, all he cares about is how long Changsha can keep

"Heng Shuai, good news, good news!" Jiang Zhongzheng, who has always been calm and calm, actually seemed very excited when he rushed into the presidential palace: "After the 11th Division in the Hunan direction, the 17th Division in Beiyang has also surrendered!" ”

Wang Hengyue and Jiang Baili looked at each other and smiled, Jiang Baili said: "If Hunan is determined, the world will be decided, congratulations to Hengshuai, the victory of the Northern Expedition is in sight!" ”

"It's not easy, it's not easy." Wang Hengyue put away his smile: "I thought that the Beiyang side would gather heavy troops in Hunan, even if it was victorious, it would be a very long process, but I didn't expect that it would be won so soon." ”

Jiang Baili nodded, and said: "First, our strength does surpass Beiyang, and secondly, the front-line soldiers use their lives, especially the three who are called the three marshals of the Northern Expedition by Heng Shuai, who fight beautifully in Hunan!" ”

Wang Hengyue suddenly asked, "What about Wu Peifu?" ”

"There is no sign of surrender yet." Jiang Zhongzheng quickly replied: "We have already sent the second telegram, and the generals of the Hunan front have repeatedly urged Wu Peifu to lay down his arms immediately, but Wu Peifu has chosen to remain silent, and has pulled his third division and a large number of troops into Changsha, it seems that he is going to rely on Changsha and fight a decisive battle with us!" ”

"No, no." Wang Hengyue said repeatedly.

Wu Peifu is not like such a person, why does he do this when the overall situation has been decided?

After frowning and thinking for a long time, Wang Hengyue suddenly smiled and said, "I understand, Wu Peifu is deliberately holding on to Changsha and turning surrender into peace talks." ”

As he spoke, he looked at Jiang Baili: "Chief of Staff, do you think we can take Changsha?" ”

"Yes!" Jiang Baili replied without hesitation: "But"

"But such casualties are bound to be heavy, especially on Wu Peifu's side." Wang Hengyue took over Jiang Baili's words: "When the overall situation is decided, it is better to end the battle as soon as possible, and not too many people will die, after all, many officers and soldiers among these people will be the foundation of our national defense force in the future!" ”

With that, he walked over to his desk, picked up his pen, and brushed something on it.

Jiang Baili and Jiang Zhong were waiting quietly, for about twenty minutes, Wang Hengyue finally finished writing, carefully folded the letter, put it in the envelope, and then wrote on the envelope:

"Yushuai personally opened"!

Then handed it to Jiang Zhongzheng: "Send someone to Wu Peifu and order the Hunan front to step up the encirclement of Changsha, but without my order, it is not allowed to attack Changsha." ”

"Yes!"

"Heng Shuai is painstakingly attached to this jade handsome." Jiang Baili sighed: "I just hope that Wu Peifu can understand Heng Shuai's painstaking efforts and not continue to resist to the end." ”

"No, it won't." Wang Hengyue smiled and shook his head: "The reason why I treat Wu Peifu like this, in addition to my admiration for this person, is that I want to take Hunan as an example and show the warlords who are still trying to resist in other places how I, Wang Hengyue, treat the enemy." Not only will I let my opponents go into the wilderness and go abroad to investigate, but for the truly talented people, I treat them as all the people in the national ** army, and there is no deviation! ”

Jiang Baili exhaled softly and smiled.

Hunan is determined, the world is determined!

After such a long time of preparation for the Northern Expedition, in exchange for victory, everything that was done before was worth it, and soon with the pacification of Hunan, the road to military reunification was about to be completed!

It all will be imprinted with a person's name:

Wang Hengyue!