At 7 p.m. on the 29th, the Red Seventh Army Corps held an operational meeting in Yuanlong, at which the heads of the Red 11th Division, the Fourth Independent Division, the artillery regiment, the heavy machine gun regiment, the cavalry regiment, the engineer regiment, the guard regiment, the field hospital, the communications battalion, and the reconnaissance battalion attended the meeting.

Chief of Staff Zeng Zhongsheng pointed to the map of Tianshui drawn by the reconnaissance battalion and said: "According to the report of the 13th Division, at 2 o'clock at noon today, Qingma launched an attack on Tianshui with three cavalry regiments, and was severely damaged by the 38th Regiment defending the city. At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the Qingma infantry arrived and launched a tentative attack on the north and south flanks of the arc-shaped mountain behind our Tianshui with two security regiments and four militia regiments, which were repulsed by our only regiment and the only second regiment. The enemy immediately launched an attack on all fronts, with the 1st Security Regiment with one cavalry regiment and two militia regiments attacking the northern flank of the arc-shaped mountain, with the 2nd Security Regiment with one cavalry regiment and two militia regiments attacking the southern flank, with one cavalry brigade, three security regiments, and three militia regiments of the 5th Cavalry Division attacking the middle part of the arc-shaped mountain, and with the three infantry regiments of the 100th Division each with one cavalry regiment and two militia regiments attacking the west, south, and north gates of Tianshui County. Due to the strong positions and powerful firepower, and the fact that our artillery had knocked out the enemy's artillery positions, the enemy's attack on all fronts had to be stopped after a short time. At present, the Ma Jiajun surrounded under Tianshui City is the 100th Division and two cavalry brigades of Ma Bufang's New Second Army, two cavalry brigades and one infantry brigade of the 5th Cavalry Division of Ma Buqing, plus some security regiments and militia regiments, with a total strength of about 70,000 people. In the afternoon attack, the enemy lost about 6,000 people, and the existing strength of the main force of Tsing Ma was about 65,000 people. At present, the main force of the 7th Division of Ningma Ma Hongkui has crossed the Wei River and joined the battlefield, and the enemy's strength has reached 90,000. It is expected that this night, the enemy will launch a night attack on the positions of our 13th Division and the only division. ”

After the briefing, Zeng Zhongsheng said: "According to the enemy situation on the battlefield and the deployment of the corps commander, our corps is determined to concentrate the troops directly under the corps, the 11th Division, the 12th Division, the 13th Division, the 1st Division, and the 4th Division, a total of five divisions, to completely annihilate the main forces of Ma Bufang, Ma Buqing, and Ma Hongkui under Tianshui City and between the Yuhe River and the Wei River. The specific arrangements are as follows: 1. Use the 13th Division and the Only Division to defend Tianshui County and the mountains behind the county seat, and hold on to fortifications to attract the Ma Jiajun to attack and gradually consume the strength of the Ma Jiajun. When the main force completed the deployment and the Ma Jiajun finally collapsed, it was killed from Tianshui and hit the back of the Ma Jiajun. 2. The 12th Division has secretly moved south from Pingliang and has now reached the line of the Wei River. This night, cross the Wei River and deploy a defensive line along the Wei River to block and oppress the enemy. When the enemy's entire line collapsed, it steadily pursued from north to south. The 3rd and 4th Independent Divisions led an artillery regiment with a mortar battalion and a heavy machine gun regiment with three battalions to secretly occupy Yuquan Town tonight, set up defenses along the river, prevent the enemy from escaping southward, and undertake the task of steadily flanking the enemy's main force from south to north. Fourth, Huang Su and Cai Zhong led the artillery regiment, heavy machine gun regiment, and engineer regiment, and Gao Yuan and Yuan Guoping led the 11 divisions to the Zhongliang front line tonight, set up an ambush position, cut off the connection between Tianshui and Gangu, and Gao Yuan was responsible for unified command. The corps headquarters led the cavalry regiment and the guard regiment to move with the 11th Division, and established a headquarters in Zhongliang, with the cavalry regiment and the guard regiment serving as the reserve of the whole corps. The overall assumption of the battle was that when the enemy was exhausted from the attack, he found that the main forces of our army were outflanked on the north and south sides, and he would inevitably retreat in the direction of Gangu, and after encountering heavy fire from our 11th Division and the corps, it was very likely that Ningma would break through in the direction of the Wei River and Qingma would break through in the direction of the river. At this time, the 12th Division blocked the Wei River, and the 4th Division blocked the attack on the River. Besieging the enemy in a small space under Tianshui City, the Wei River and the Borrowing River, our army surrounded on all sides, gradually advancing, and forcing the enemy to collapse. ”

After Zeng Zhongsheng finished speaking, Liu Yimin stood up, swept his eyes around the faces of the cadres, and said loudly: "The battle of Tianshui has a bearing on the overall situation of our army's establishment of the strategic base area of Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningqing, [***], Vice Chairman Zhou, and Commander-in-Chief Zhu are watching us, all the officers and men of the whole army are looking at us, and all the people of insight and the toiling masses in the whole country who are looking forward to uniting to resist are looking at us. Ma Bufang group, there are many cavalry, strong mobility, usually we just want to fight him and can't catch up with him, and now he dares to do his best to attack Tianshui, this is a golden opportunity. The fortifications of my Tianshui City are solid and stable as Mount Tai, and my 13th Division and the only division have advanced weapons, powerful firepower, and sufficient ammunition, not to mention that the Ma Jiajun with poor weapons cannot be attacked, even the Central Army cannot be attacked. Ma Jiajun must be desperate under Tianshui City, his head is broken, and he returns with feathers. We just want to wave our army to kill and completely annihilate Ma when the army cannot attack the city and its morale collapses. Therefore, all units must control the rhythm of the offensive, and after arriving at the designated position, they must establish an unbreakable blocking position to resist the cavalry onslaught in accordance with the requirements of the Red Army's infantry training program, so as to block the wave of cavalry offensive when Ma Jiajun was desperate. It is strictly forbidden to be strong and reckless, and to attack without authorization, our strategy is to bully Ma Jiajun with fortifications and firepower, so that they know what modern warfare is. After repelling his large-scale onslaught, he advanced forward 500 meters and 500 meters, building a position with each further push, and finally, trapping Ma Jiajun under Tianshui City and forcing him to automatically lay down his weapons. Is my guiding ideology clear to everyone? ”

The cadres replied in unison: "Clear! ”

Liu Yimin nodded with satisfaction, and then said, "What is the main force?" It's not about the number, it's not about the time of establishment, it's about whether it's invincible and invincible. In my eyes, the troops that can defend, attack fiercely, cannot be dragged down, and can win are the main force. The 11th Division, of course, is a well-deserved first-class main force of our army. And what about the Fourth Division? This battle was not only the first battle of our only fourth division and the only division, but also our famous battle. I hope that after this battle, our 1st and 4th Divisions will be able to make the enemy fearful, just like the old 1st, 2nd, and 3rd battalions. Chen Dayong, Liu Yi, Li Deguang, Shi Ran, the four of you told me, do you have confidence? ”

Chen Dayong stood up suddenly: "Report to the corps commander, the Fourth Division will never discredit the battle flag of the Seventh Legion." Please rest assured, resolutely complete the task, and do not let go of a single Ma Jiajun. ”

Liu Yimin looked at Liu Yi, Li Deguang, and Shi Ran who stood up, and several people shouted in unison: "Please rest assured that the Fourth Division will be invincible and invincible." ”

Liu Yimin was no longer verbose, and waved his hand: "Let's go!" ”

The cadres came out one after another. Liu Yimin told Zeng Zhongsheng to send the deployment just now and his speech to Liu Jianjian, Li Qing, and Feng Dafei, and organized the corps headquarters to set off immediately. After speaking, he took the lead in leading the team to set off.

After receiving Ma Yuanhai's telegram, Ma Bufang couldn't help but be shocked, he didn't expect that the red bandits had already prepared, it seemed that Shuicheng was not easy to fight this day, and he might have to spend a lot of money.

After thinking about it for a while, Ma Bufang decided to give full play to the advantages of night combat and close combat, and attack at night. He didn't believe that only a few thousand Tianshui defenders could block the attack of his 90,000-strong army, even if he trampled on people with horses, he could also level the small Tianshui. So he ordered Ma Yuanhai to resolutely attack in a night battle, even if he killed 20,000 people, he would also take Tianshui. As for Ma Yuanhai's request to resign from the former enemy's commander-in-chief, Ma Bufang said this: "When you just started fighting, what kind of job did you resign? Could it be that the old cousin let the donkey kick? Can't do it anymore? ”

Thinking that this battle could not be fought in vain, he had to ask Chiang Kai-shek for something. So, Ma Bufang sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, saying that after an afternoon attack, the red bandits suffered heavy losses and killed more than 3,000 Red bandit Tianshui defenders. However, the troops suffered heavy losses, with 6,000 killed and more than 2,000 wounded, and serious losses of grain, grass, and ammunition. In addition, in view of the lack of heavy firepower of the troops, I ask the chairman of the NPC committee to send the air force to assist in the battle early tomorrow morning and bomb Tianshui City to the ground.

After sending the telegram, Ma Bufang considered that Ma Hongkui's troops Ma Yuanhai could not be commanded, so he sent a telegram to Ma Hongkui and asked him to command the frontline with Ma Yuanhai.

After receiving Ma Bufang's telegram, Ma Yuanhai hurried to see Ma Hongkui, who had already arrived on the battlefield. As soon as Ma Hongkui heard that Ma Bufang was not in Tianshui, but in Gangu, he was annoyed: urging one telegram after another, Lao Tzu is here, but you are hiding in Gangu, isn't this making fun of Lao Tzu? Therefore, when Ma Yuanhai said that Ma Bufang asked the two of them to jointly command the plan of night combat and close combat at night, Ma Hongkui said coldly that our army had just arrived at the battlefield and needed to rest. I will not take part in this night battle, you will attack first, and our army will plunder the brothers.

Ma Yuanhai had no choice but to send a telegram to Ma Bufang, reporting Ma Hongkui's reluctance to participate in the night battle. Then the troops were arranged to hurry up and prepare ladders and explosives bags to prepare for the siege overnight.

After Ma Bufang received the telegram, he sent three telegrams to Ma Hongkui in succession, asking him to cooperate with the night attack and at least contain the enemy. In the end, Ma Hongkui finally agreed to serve as a feint.

Li Qing and Feng Dafei saw the people shouting and shouting horses and the torches of the Qingma troops at the bottom of the mountain in the headquarters on the top of the mountain, and they knew that the enemy was going to engage in a sneak attack and a night battle, so they immediately ordered the troops to hurry up eating and resting, strengthen the protection of the position, and at the same time strengthen the positions on the two flanks and the rear mountain, so as to prepare for the enemy's night battle.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, Ma Yuanhai called the commanders of the New Second Army and the Fifth Cavalry Division, and said in a hoarse voice: "The main reason for the failure of the attack this afternoon is that our army has attacked in too many directions and dispersed its troops. However, the main losses were mainly the militia regiments, and the main force of our army, more than 30,000 people, basically did not suffer losses except for three cavalry regiments, which suffered slightly larger losses. Tonight, we concentrated our forces to take the county seat, and the 7th Division was responsible for attacking the back mountain, pinning down the red bandits on the mountain and preventing reinforcements. We still have more than 60,000 horses, even if we use our feet, we must also level Tianshui City. Prepare more explosive packs and bundles of grenades to prepare to blow open the city gates. The 5th Cavalry Division was responsible for taking the North Gate, the 100th Division was responsible for taking the West Gate, and the 1st and 2nd Regiments of the Qinghai Security Regiment commanded the militia to take the South Gate. Ma Tingxiang, the commander of the siege of the north gate, Han Qigong, the commander of the siege of the west gate, and Ma Yulong, the head of the security regiment of the siege of the south gate. The mortar positions of the artillery regiment were destroyed in the afternoon, and the losses were large. Pull up the field artillery at night, and blast it at the west gate, and make sure to blow up a breakthrough. Two cavalry brigades of the Fifth Cavalry Division and the cavalry brigade of the New Second Army set up ambush positions in the south and north of the city, and when the red bandits on the mountain came down to support, kill him! ”

Seeing Ma Yuanhai's murderous appearance, the officers were also as excited as if they had been beaten with chicken blood, as if Tianshui City was already theirs.

Looking at the expressions of the officers, Ma Yuanhai knew that the morale was up. He said: "We have a particular focus on fighting at night, we don't fight now, wait until late at night, when people are sleepy, it is easy to have a surprise effect." Now the units go back and arrange for the soldiers to sleep, and let the militia hurry up and make long ladders, light more torches, and make more noise, so that the red bandits will think that we will attack at any time and cannot sleep. At two o'clock in the night, the whole army secretly gathered and fought together to climb the city wall, and whoever climbed up first would be the female red bandit in the city. Did you hear me clearly? ”

The officers shouted together: "Hear me clearly! Ma Yuanhai waved his hand and asked everyone to go out and prepare.

Li Qing and Feng Dafei waited in the headquarters until 10 o'clock in the evening, but they did not see the Qingma troops moving, and they were very surprised, and called the leadership of the 13th Division and the only division together to study what Qingma wanted to do.

Lei Ming, the political commissar of the only division, looked at the star-like torches in the camp of the Qingma troops at the foot of the mountain, and said: "Two division commanders, the commander of this Qingma is not simple, he is tired of military tactics, he wants us to stay awake all night, and then launch a surprise attack when the soldiers are most sleepy. Moreover, this attack must be a desperate gamble, aimed at a point in the county seat or on the mountain, with the aim of breaking through in one fell swoop. ”

Feng Dafei thought for a while and said, "That makes sense." However, this point of attack must be the county seat. Because although there are walls, they are numerous, and as long as the ladder can lean against the wall, they can attack upward. Moreover, the city wall of Tianshui is not high, and it can't stand so many people climbing up like ants. If once they get to the gates, they can blow up the gates. Besides, our army has strong troops on the mountain, and we are not afraid of them attacking, but there are too few troops in the city. Although the 38th regiment is the main force, the tigers are difficult to defeat the wolves! ”

Li Qing pondered carefully, this is indeed the truth, the commander of the army repeatedly told Qingma to fight and not die, if they rushed up, it would be troublesome to rush into the city. Although the 38th Regiment was ready for street fighting, wouldn't it be better if the enemy didn't break through the walls?

After discussing with Feng Dafei, Li Qing immediately ordered the 39th Regiment to hand over the position to the supplementary regiment, and enter the county seat from the east gate in front of the position with the only regiment, and Lei Ming, the political commissar of the only division, entered the city with the troops to be responsible for unified command and defense of the city. And let them concentrate the mortar batteries of the three regiments and exert the power of the artillery bombardment.

After Lei Ming entered the city, after meeting with Hou Sanxi and Yu Qingshan, he immediately arranged for the troops to rest in shifts, and ordered the three battalions of the only regiment to be assigned to the three battalions of the 38th regiment to defend the west gate, the north gate, and the south gate, and the 39th regiment to sit in reserve, and the original 13th division to guard the east gate to ensure the connection between the mountain and the mountain. Then Li Chang gathered the mortar companies of the three regiments together and appointed Li Sheng, commander of the mortar company of the 38th regiment, to take unified command and immediately establish positions, calculate the firing range, and demarcate the shelling area.

Li Chang very much hoped that all the mortars would be aimed at the Tsing Ma camp to fire three salvos, but unfortunately the mortars of the three regiments were all small 60 mortars with limited range, so he had to give up.

At 2 o'clock in the night, Ma Yuanhai ordered the troops to assemble, still with the militia in front and the elite behind, and quietly touched several city gates.

Song Wenhu's four battalions, one company and one platoon, served as the West Gate, that is, the city gate facing Gangu to Tianshui Road, at this time.

Since the victory in the afternoon battle, the morale of the warriors was high, and they had been waiting for the green horse to continue the attack. But the people who were waiting were almost asleep, and there was no movement from the green horse.

Song Wenhu was about to smoke a cigarette and recuperate his spirits, when he heard a soldier say: "Platoon commander, come up!" ”

Song Wenhu looked under the city wall, obediently, a large black area, and he couldn't see how many people there were. Needless to say, those who came to the gates were ready to blow them up, and those who carried ladders were ready to climb the city walls.

Song Wenhu did not dare to slack off, and asked a soldier to report to the company commander, and ordered the whole platoon to concentrate its fire on the enemy who was rushing to the city gate, and did not let them get close to the city gate.

Song Wenhu and the others fought, and immediately all the troops on duty in the direction of the West Gate opened fire. Soon the machine guns in the dark fort at the base of the city wall and the fire points in the middle of the wall were also fired.

It didn't take long for the direction of the west gate and the north gate to start.

The 100th Division of Qingma was the 100th Division of Qingma, which was Ma Bufang's starting unit, and he himself was also the division commander. At this time, it was Han Qigong who was responsible for commanding the 100th Division. This person is an outlier in the Ma family's army, because the Ma family's army is basically a family army, and the standard for employing people is the four words "Gan, He, Hui, and Ma", which means that it must be from Gansu, Hezhou, Hui, and Ma. Han Qigong is a native of Xunhua County, Qinghai, Han nationality, and none of the four standards for Ma Bufang's employment are boundary. However, this person does have the ability, and he can rise step by step in the seriously xenophobic Ma Jiajun, which shows that he is indeed capable and has military merits, and he is also very loyal to Ma Bufang.

Historically, Han Qigong has always occupied an important position in the Qingma Army. In particular, when Qingma eliminated the Red Army's Western Route Army, Han Qigong was an important general of the Qingma Army, and the militia groups he mobilized to attack the Red Army alone reached 40,000 or 50,000 people. After liberation, he was shot with a civil axe.

At this time, Han Qigong, who was standing at the command post, saw that the sneak attack had failed, so he ordered a strong attack on all fronts. So the soldiers carried long ladders and rushed towards the walls.

As soon as the commander of the 4th Battalion of the 38th Regiment, which was serving as the garrison of the West Gate, saw that the situation was critical, he immediately ordered the 4th Battalion and the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment to go up to the city wall, and all the firing points were opened fire.

The Red Army soldiers really opened their eyes this time, whether it was the Hunan Army, the Gui Army or the Central Army, no one could compare to the Qingma Army in terms of bravery. Seeing that the Red Army's fire was so fierce, the soldiers still stepped on the corpses of their comrades and pounced on them, and forcibly put some ladders on the city wall. The soldiers didn't know that this was just the militia and security regiment that took the lead, and the three regiments of the 100th Division of Qingma were still supervising the formation!

Soon there were soldiers climbing up the ladder.

Lei Shun, the squad leader of the second company and the third platoon of the fourth battalion, led the whole squad to guard the city wall, constantly shooting and throwing bombs, and a ladder happened to be set up next to him, and he pushed it hard twice but did not push. Looking down, several green horse soldiers were desperately holding on to the ladder, he grabbed a grenade, pulled the string, counted three seconds in his mouth, and threw it down. The grenade exploded above the heads of the Qingma soldiers, and Lei Shun shouted to the two soldiers, holding the ladder with the butt of his gun, and shouting "Get up!" Knocked the ladder down. The green horse soldier on the ladder fell down, Lei Shun grabbed a grenade and threw it, and when he turned around, he found that the two soldiers were exposed because of too much force, and they were immediately killed by the enemy's machine gun bullets.

There were too many enemies, and they attacked the city again, and as soon as they were close, the light and heavy machine guns of the Qingma troops serving as cover brought casualties to the Red Army on the city wall, and the soldiers did not dare to show their heads, and they would die if they were not careful.

Of course, it was impossible for the enemy to climb up, and the firepower of the fourth battalion and the only regiment and one battalion was beyond the imagination of the Qingma troops, and the corpses under the city walls were higher and higher.

At this time, the mortars in the city spoke.

After Li Sheng received the call for help from the 4th Battalion, he immediately ordered the three mortar companies to fire five salvos outside the West Gate according to the demarcated firing range, and all the shells fell in the middle of the dense formation of the 100th Division and the militia regiment. The bombing suffocated the 100th Division's attack formation.

Subsequently, Li Sheng commanded three mortar companies to provide fire support to the south and north gates at one time.

Because the range of the thunder cannon is too close, it is not convenient to move, and the soldiers of the Qingma unit are not stupid, and the people who see it are too powerful, so they try to avoid its bombardment range. As a result, the Thunder Cannon had to shift its position after firing for a while, forming a firing gap.

Seeing that the Red Army mortars had shifted the direction of firing, Han Qigong felt that it was time, and on the one hand, he notified the five field guns transferred by the artillery regiment to open up the artillery to bombard the West Gate, and on the other hand, he ordered the militia to be withdrawn and let the three infantry regiments of the 100th Division directly plunge into the attack on the West City Gate, determined to strike a blow at the West Gate.

Ma Bufang's field cannon is the Taisho 21-style field cannon of Yuben, and it is a new cannon that Ma Bufang just bought back from Yuben with the money from selling opium. This time, Ma Bufang's main force poured out of the nest and brought these five field artillery. After a test firing, the five field guns adjusted their firing range, followed by a five-round salvo, which immediately lifted the city gate building above the west gate into the sky, and buried all the Red Army soldiers of a squad in it with bricks and tiles.

Another round of five volleys fell, and the walls above the city gate were already far away.

As soon as the commander of the fourth battalion saw that it was not a joke, he immediately ordered the troops preparing for street fighting to take position to prevent the enemy from breaking through the city gate, and immediately made a report to the regimental headquarters.

At this time, Li Chang had clearly judged that the enemy's most elite troops were at Ximen, and immediately ordered the 39th Regiment, which served as a reserve, to send out reinforcements to Ximen and push the enemy back.

The west gate finally collapsed under the continuous shelling of five field guns. However, the good fortune of these five field guns of Tsing Ma has also come to an end. Li Qing, who was on the mountain, had been waiting impatiently, he was afraid that the enemy would have mountain artillery or field artillery, so he kept the mountain artillery company of the artillery battalion waiting patiently, and when he saw that the enemy's field artillery finally opened fire, Li Chang ordered the mountain artillery company to open fire and destroy the enemy's field artillery position.

The range of the mountain artillery itself was not as far as that of the field artillery, but the gap was not very large. In addition, it was night, and in order to improve the accuracy of the shelling, the Tsing Ma Artillery Regiment pushed the field artillery forward as much as possible. This time the mountain artillery company of the artillery battalion of the 13th Division was caught.

The company commander of the mountain artillery company was Yang Degui, who was the sharpshooter who hit the mortar position of the Taoguang 62nd Division for the first time during the Battle of Xikou, and was awarded a special merit at the inaugural meeting of the Jingwu Prefecture Central Guard Division. He was originally from the old Fourth Battalion, but Li Qing specially transferred him from Gao Yuan and Hong Chaoyuan to strengthen the 134th Division's artillery battalion.

After Yang Degui received the order to open fire, after visually measuring the distance of the Qingmaye position, he quickly reported the coordinates, and after a test firing, he adjusted slightly, that is, six mountain artillery salvos, followed by another salvo, knowing that he heard the sound of shells detonating from the Qingma field artillery position, he stopped the shelling.

After taking out the enemy's field artillery positions, the artillery battalion of the 13th Division and the artillery battalion of the only division no longer had any scruples, and six mountain guns and dozens of mortars began to fire a salvo outside the west gate.

Han Qigong saw that the west city gate was blown up by wild artillery, and ordered the cavalry to join the battle, attack the city wall together with the security regiment and the militia group, attract the attention of the red bandits, and rushed out of the headquarters with his own sabre, with the three elite regiments of the 100th division, screaming, and killing the west city gate.

After Tsing Ma's field artillery was blown up, the 4th Battalion and the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment immediately adjusted their deployment, built improvised fortifications at the gate of the bombed city, and mobilized light and heavy machine guns to block the enemy.

The troops of the 100th division were worthy of being bloodthirsty and murderous, and more than 9,000 people from three regiments rushed towards the west gate in three waves, ignoring the bullets fired from the opposite side.

Seeing that the barrels of the heavy machine guns of the fourth battalion and the first battalion of the only regiment were red, the soldiers of the 100th Division fell straight down like wheat, but these fanatical men from the northwest did not turn back, nor did they talk about any tactics, and blindly attacked the sea of people.

Seeing that they had finally rushed to the city gate, many soldiers dropped their guns, drew their broadswords on their backs, howled like wolves, and pounced on the breach of the city gate.

Seeing that the city was about to be breached, the shells of the artillery battalions of the two divisions on the mountain and the three mortar companies in the city fell on their heads and faces, and the charging team of the 100th division was blown into two sections.

Han Qigong also wanted to let the troops desperately rush through the sea of death fire formed by artillery fire and rush into the city. I saw that the soldiers who rushed into the city gate were like a person who was drunk and was slapped by someone else, and he staggered out, and was soon drowned in the rain of artillery fire and bullets.

It turned out that the reinforced 39 regiment arrived. Light machine guns and submachine guns formed a barrage of bullets, forcing out the soldiers of the 100th Division who rushed into the city gate, and sending them into purgatory formed by artillery fire.

Although Han Qigong was fierce and arrogant, he also knew that if he continued to attack, he would only bring humiliation on himself, so he had to look sadly at the broken and incomplete 100th Division and order to stop the attack.

In fact, the Fifth Cavalry Division at the North Gate had already stopped attacking, after all, they were Ma Buqing's troops, although they were also brave, but what could they do if they couldn't attack?

Seeing that the shouts and gunfire of the west gate stopped, the offensive at the south gate naturally stopped.

As soon as the siege commanders of several city gates met and summarized the losses, Ma Yuanhai's lips turned black, trembling all over, and he couldn't speak.

In this wave of strong attack, Qingma suffered heavy losses, the field artillery position was ended, and there was no longer artillery support. The losses of the troops are even greater, the original 65,000 people, now less than 50,000, the key is that the most elite 100 divisions were ravaged by the artillery fire of the red bandits and lost more than 3,000 people, and a whole regiment was gone.

Ma Yuanhai felt that this battle could not be fought anymore, and from afternoon to night, the 70,000 horses he brought became less than 50,000, and the artillery regiment was completely gone, and he didn't know how much effort he would have to spend to rebuild it in the future. The red bandits in this city are definitely not as originally imagined, they are a lone army of thousands of people, but the elite who have been waiting for a long time. If we continue to fight, even if we throw all the troops here, I am afraid that we will not be able to attack it.

Look at Ma Hongkui, who served as the coordinate, a division of more than 20,000 people, and he couldn't even rush up the hillside of the north wing, and he was purely grinding foreign workers.

After calming down, Ma Yuanhai sent a telegram to Ma Bufang, asking to withdraw the troops back to Xining, this red bandit we buddies can't afford to provoke.

Ma Bufang gets up at 4 o'clock every day. After getting up today, just after washing, and before I had time to reminisce about the beautiful scenery of the girl sitting on the stage at night, the confidential staff officer sent a telegram from Ma Yuanhai.

Ma Bufang was taken aback when he saw it, this red bandit army was so strong in combat effectiveness that it made the 100th division hit its head and bleed. It's worth it!

Ma Bufang wandered around the yard for a long time, thinking about what to do. The losses are large, and he is not afraid. Those militia groups, if they are lost, they can be rebuilt, anyway, they don't have to pay for it themselves, and the soldiers bring their own equipment. These 100 divisions and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Security Regiments must not be lost. What's the matter? Just withdraw the troops?

Ma Bufang was unwilling to retreat like this, so he sent a telegram to Ma Hongkui, urging him to concentrate on attacking after dawn and cooperate with Ma Yuanhai to capture Tianshui City.

After sending a telegram to Ma Hongkui, Ma Bufang sent another telegram to Ma Yuanhai, asking him to reorganize his troops and attack again after dawn. We have suffered heavy casualties, and the casualties of the red bandits must also be very large, and now we are competing to see who can hold on. However, when attacking after dawn, it was necessary to let Ma Hongkui's troops and the 5th Cavalry Division attack first, and his own troops should supervise their attacks. The 100th Division must not be allowed to suffer any further losses.

Then Ma Bufang sent a second telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, truthfully reporting the losses of the troops, asking for instructions on whether to temporarily abandon the capture of Tianshui, and the troops retreated to Gangu to establish a defensive line. If the fight continues, Qinghai's armed forces will probably all be buried in this Tianshui City. At the same time, Ma Bufang proposed that the central authorities must send the air force to participate in the war, and now that the artillery of the New Second Army has been completely lost, it can no longer provide fire support to the troops.

This Ma Bufang was not at the front in person, so the telegram he sent to Chiang Kai-shek only told him about the destruction of his artillery and the casualties of his troops. If he had gone to the battlefield and witnessed how his soldiers died, it is estimated that his telegram to Chiang Kai-shek would not have been written in this way, but would have run away first, and then sent a telegram. The content of the telegram should also be weeping bitterly and in pain.

However, Ma Bufang is right about one point, the casualties of the Red Army in Tianshui City are indeed not small, especially the four battalions guarding the West City Gate and the only regiment and one battalion, after a fierce battle, the casualties are more than one-half. In particular, the cadres at the company and platoon level were almost completely killed or wounded. Those who survived were all wounded.

Li Chang had no choice but to order the two battalions to withdraw and rest and recuperate, and to transfer the 7th Battalion of the 39th Regiment and the 13th Division Engineer Battalion to defend the West Gate.

After the battle, the battlefield was filled with blood, the medics were busy treating the wounded, and the martyrs were also removed from the stage.

Li Chang led the cadres of the 38th Regiment, the 39th Regiment and the Only Regiment to inspect the fortifications, and when he arrived at the West City Gate, he saw that the field artillery was so powerful, Li Chang said to Hou Sanxi beside him: "When you send a report to the corps commander, you must explain that Ma Bufang has five field artillery, which is very powerful, and has been destroyed by our artillery." ”

spoke, and said to himself: "This Ma Bufang doesn't know where to get the field artillery, why Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army has few field artillery?" Odd! ”

Chiang Kai-shek received Ma Bufang's first telegram and scoffed, these local warlords knew that they wanted money, guns, and cannons. At the beginning of the fight, I am afraid that even a single red bandit has not been caught, so he said that he killed more than 3,000 people and suffered more than 8,000 casualties, purely to blackmail the central government. Could it be that the central government has really become a mint in their eyes, and silver dollars can be issued anytime and anywhere?

Sending planes to bomb is a light way to put it mildly, doesn't this bombing tell the world that the Central Army has entered the war? Isn't that the mastermind behind the civil war confessed? Whimsical, stupid!

After Chiang Kai-shek put down Ma Bufang's first telegram, he ignored Ma Bufang.

At five o'clock, the confidential staff officer on duty woke up Chiang Kai-shek and handed him Ma Bufang's second telegram.

After Chiang Kai-shek saw it, he was puzzled, and said that Ma Bufang's troops were strong in combat, why couldn't they take a single Tianshui, and they also demanded the withdrawal of troops, is it incredible!

However, this was a major event after all, and Chiang Kai-shek immediately ordered confidential staff officers to inform Yan Daogang, Yang Yongtai, and He Guoguang that they should immediately rush to the official residence to discuss important matters.

When a few people arrived, Chiang Kai-shek had already washed up and was waiting in his study.

Yang Yongtai took Ma Bufang's two telegrams and looked at them, and was silent. After a pause, he picked up the telegram again, examined it carefully, and said, "Isn't it a bit wishful thinking on our part?" ”

Chiang Kai-shek stared at Yang Yongtai's eyes for a long time and asked, "What does Chang Qing mean by this?" ”

Yang Yongtai said: "Commission, this defense of Tianshui should be the troops of Liu Yimin's Red Seventh Army!" ”

He Guoguang interjected: "It should be." Because it was Liu Yimin's troops who occupied Xi'an, and only he could be insatiable, ignore anyone's orders, and use the excuse that the troops did not receive orders when the armistice order was issued to seize Tianshui and Pingliang and Guyuan. ”

"That's the problem. Judging from Liu Yimin's past combat situation, he always grasped the information in advance and carried out an ambush by surprise. This time, Ma Bufang's main force confronted his troops for so long, it was impossible for him not to know that there was such a huge disparity in the strength of the two sides, how could the Tianshui defenders become a lone army? There must be a ghost in this! ”

Yang Yongtai's remark immediately attracted everyone's attention. Chiang Kai-shek immediately ordered the staff officer on duty to bring all the telegrams of Ma Bufang, Ma Hongkui, and Ma Hongbin in the past few days, and he wanted to take a closer look.

After the telegram was brought, several people read it one by one, and when they saw Ma Hongbin's telegram reporting the retreat of the Red Army from Guyuan, Yang Yongtai's eyes lit up and said: "The problem is here!" ”

Several people looked at Yang Yongtai, and Yang Yongtai said loudly with a telegram in his hand: "The Red Army withdrew from Guyuan, why?" Guyuan is the bridgehead to control Ningxia, and its strategic position is so important, how can it be said that it will be disarmed? ”

He Guoguang pondered for a moment and said, "There is a problem." The seizure of Guyuan was carried out at the risk of violating the armistice order, and there was no reason to disarm it casually. Besides, this is Liu Yimin's troops, when he seized Guyuan, I felt that he was stuck in Ningma's throat, why is he willing to give up automatically? It was definitely not because they were afraid of Ma Hongkui and Ma Hongbin that they withdrew, how could Ningma's troops enter Liu Yimin's eyes? He dared to fight He Jian when he was in a regiment, so how could He Jian's troops be comparable to Ningma's troops? Now that he has taken the initiative to disarm, what is he going to do? ”

Chiang Kai-shek blurted out: "Tianshui! ”

Several people hurried to the map,

(To be continued)