On May 3, 1919, Wang Hengyue waved the Northern Expedition and officially opened the curtain of unifying China by force!

In fact, in this Northern Expedition, Wang Hengyue did not show all his strength, he only sent a small number of aircraft and armored vehicles to participate in the battle.

The reason for doing this, Wang Hengyue also has his own considerations.

The Great Powers have moved away from the European war and are beginning to refocus their attention on China, and in such a situation, it would not be wise to expose their full strength.

The great powers needed an agent, not a powerful adversary. Once Wang Hengyue's National Revolutionary Army relied on the cover of aircraft and armored vehicles to show strong attack power on the battlefield, it would inevitably make the foreign powers vigilant, and thus begin to change from support to containment.

This is definitely not a favorable option until the unification of force is completed!

The war was the first to start in Fujian!

The headquarters of the Fujian-Zhejiang Allied Army was located in Xiamen, and the main force of the Zhejiang Army confronted the National Revolutionary Army on the front line of Zhao'an.

On May 3, with the start of the Northern Expedition, the confrontation was finally broken.

The artillery began to roar, and the earth trembled.

The shells roared into the sky, and then fell one by one, igniting the sky-high flames in the positions of the Zhejiang army.

The artillery of the Zhejiang army also tried their best to reinforce it, but it was quickly suppressed by the artillery bombardment of the National Revolutionary Army, thus losing the right to speak on the battlefield.

The positions of the Zhejiang army were constantly destroyed by the artillery fire of the National Revolutionary Army, and those positions that had been built with great difficulty were blown up in all directions by the roar of countless shells.

Wars are fought more about the economy.

At this time, Wang Hengyue, who has a lot of money, can even be described as "domineering". His troops, completely ignoring the consumption of shells, desperately used artillery fire to destroy the enemy's positions and destroy the enemy's determination.

As soon as the cannon goes off, ten thousand taels of gold!

Tong Baoxuan, deputy commander of the Fujian-Zhejiang coalition army, was a little helpless.

Wang Hengyue's wings hardened, and he was reluctant to carry out the battle of unification by force before, because he was making all efforts to make the war successful in one fell swoop and removing all obstacles.

Now, he has done it, and the Northern Expedition has become a natural thing.

He recklessly used artillery shells to wear down the enemy's confidence and morale little by little, and used artillery fire to take away the enemy's will little by little.

There were constant calls for help from the front line, but Tong Baoxuan had nothing to do.

The artillery has been completely suppressed by the National Revolutionary Army, and it is possible to give "reinforcements" to the front, perhaps only God knows when the "promise" will be fulfilled.

Tong Baoxuan didn't even ask Li Houji, the commander-in-chief of the Fujian and Zhejiang armies, for help, because he knew very well that Li Houji's situation would not be much better than his own!

The shelling lasted for more than an hour, and the forward positions of the Zhejiang army in Zhao'an were almost completely destroyed. And with the extension of the artillery fire of the National Revolutionary Army, the infantry march began!

Those soldiers of the National Revolutionary Army wearing steel helmets, relying on the cover of artillery, completely suppressed their opponents in momentum from the very beginning.

Light and heavy machine guns were firing in an orderly manner, and the improved "Min-VI" heavy machine gun, the "Tyrannosaurus IV" light machine gun, combined with the Maxim heavy machine gun and the Madsen light machine gun, poured out countless terrible bullets all over the world.

The Zhejiang army was beaten and could not raise its head at all, and what came from the rain of bullets was only a frightened cry and a terrible call.

Occasionally, one or two machine guns desperately tried to return fire, but then they were met with even more violent retaliation. The "sudden" bullets, the machine gunners were forced to lie down in the position and did not dare to move.

Those [***] soldiers with "Shu 1916 type" rifles were unhurriedly advancing towards the enemy little by little under the cover of powerful firepower!

In fact, the battle of Zhao'an has not yet begun, and the victory and defeat have been divided.

Under the continuous oppression of [***], the psychology of the Zhejiang army finally collapsed. With a roar, they abandoned their positions without hesitation, turned around and fled to the rear.

[***] did not rush to pursue, but jumped into the previous Zhejiang army position, while stabilizing the position, while methodically preparing to attack Zhao'an.

The front-line positions of Zhao'an were lost within twenty minutes after the [***] infantry attack!

This is not to say that [***]'s combat effectiveness has reached the point of destruction, nor does it mean that Zhejiang's combat effectiveness is low to the point of being vulnerable, but in the comparison of firepower between the two sides, the Zhejiang army has completely lost the upper hand, and it has been taken by [***] from the beginning.

More importantly, from the very beginning of the war, the Zhejiang army was not psychologically prepared to defend its position.

As soon as the front-line positions were lost, Zhao'an was completely exposed to the direct attack of [***] firepower.

The commander of Zhao'an, like his subordinates, was not so determined to resist, and after [***] stabilized his position and launched a tentative attack on Zhao'an, the commander of Zhao'an quickly made a decision:

Give up Zhao'an!

This decision is undoubtedly wise!

After receiving the news that Zhao'an was lost in one day, Tong Baoxuan, deputy commander-in-chief of the Fujian-Zhejiang coalition army and former commander-in-chief of the enemy, sighed softly and shook his head helplessly.

He did not punish the commanders who lost Zhao'an, it did not make sense.

That night, Li Houji, commander-in-chief of the Fujian-Zhejiang Allied Army, appeared in Tong Baoxuan's headquarters, the two looked at each other, speechless for a long time, the battle was fought to this extent, what else can you say?

Finally, Tong Baoxuan, who was the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, said stubbornly: "After the enemy captures Zhao'an, he will definitely want to make peace and attack in the sky respectively, according to my estimate, the battle situation in these two places will be the same as Zhao'an."

After looking at the map for a long time, Li Houji's brows were tightly locked: "Deputy Commander, it's difficult, Wang Hengyue's current strength is far better than you and me, this battle is really difficult to fight, does the deputy commander have any good opinions?" ”

Tong Baoxuan straightened his mind: "What I mean is that the clouds and the sky are peaceful and peaceful, try to delay the progress of the National Revolutionary Army, pull the main force to Xiamen, and start a decisive battle with the enemy." In the battle of Xiamen, if you can win, you will fight, and if you can't win, you will retreat to Zhejiang! But to be honest, I'm not very optimistic about the situation on the battlefield. ”

Li Houji nodded and let out a long sigh: "It's not just you, I'm also worried." This time, Wang Hengyue has been planning for a long time, once he launches an attack, if he can't win a big victory, he will definitely not withdraw his troops. Fujian will not be able to keep it sooner or later, if Fujian loses it"

Speaking of which, he couldn't say anything more

General Headquarters of the Hussars.

"Zhao'an has fallen into our hands, and I have ordered the troops to attack the clouds and peace respectively!" The high-spirited Yang Sen pointed to the map on the wall and said; "Ladies and gentlemen, Zhao'an, Yunxiao, and Pinghe, originally the Fujian-Zhejiang coalition army put up a long snake formation here, but now the snake head has been smashed by us, and the snake body and snake tail can also be broken by us sooner or later! After all three places fall into the hands of our army, our hussar corps can concentrate all its forces to launch an attack on Xiamen! ”

Chief of Staff Yang Jie waited for him to finish, got up and said: "I expect that Li Houji and Tong Baoxuan will definitely not defend the clouds and peace, but will delay our army's offensive to the greatest extent in the two places, redeploy their troops, and defend Xiamen." In fact, the entire battle to seize Fujian was only a battle in Xiamen, and once Xiamen was lost, the battle of Fujian could also be declared over! ”

Janssen nodded.

The entire strength of the Fujian and Zhejiang armies was placed in the area centered on Xiamen, and this was the largest and only fierce battle to seize Fujian.

Once Xiamen is captured, Quanzhou, Fuzhou, Longyan and other places, there is no longer the main force of the Fujian-Zhejiang coalition army, and the only way for Li Houji and Tong Baoxuan to retreat is Zhejiang!

Yang Sen thought for a moment: "What does the chief of staff mean that this battle will be fought?" ”

"I've already figured it out." Yang Jie was confident: "On the one hand, in the face of the clouds and peace, maintain an offensive posture, continue to carry out assaults with artillery and small forces, and then send a main division, Zhangpu and Baishui, to take Xiamen directly, and completely disrupt the defense of the Fujian and Zhejiang coalition forces!" ”

"Good!" Yang Sen's eyes rolled on his subordinates: "Wang Zhanxu!" ”

"Here!"

Yang Sen looked at the brother who defected to Heng Shuai with him back then: "Wang Zan Xu, order your sixth division to advance in the direction of Xiamen immediately!" ”

"Yes!"

"Wait!" Yang Jie brought Wang Zan Xu to the map: "Master Wang, come and see." When you approach Xiamen, you can divide a brigade and make a feint attack on Xiamen, so that the enemy can be confused, and then you yourself will personally lead the troops to take Longhai, where there must be no enemy defense, but it is the key point connecting Xiamen and Zhangzhou, as long as the connection between them is cut off, the victory or defeat of Xiamen is already decided! The key to this battle is to move quickly! ”

Wang Zan Xu stood upright: "Yes!" ”

"I order, all the departments are ready to act!" Yang Sen's expression was serious: "The Sixth Division will open tonight, and the rest of the divisions, delayed for a day, will attack their respective targets!" ”

"Yes!" All the officers stood up.

Sending his brother to the door of the headquarters, Yang Sen said in a low voice: "Zhiyi, you and my brother, there is something I must explain to you carefully." ”

"Commander, please speak."

"You and my brother can be regarded as old men under Heng Shuai. When he defected to Heng Shuai, he was just a small team officer, and he climbed to this position step by step, and now that the unification of the armed forces has begun, this is probably the last chance to make meritorious contributions. Yang Sen carefully explained:

"Liu Zhaocheng, a junior; Wang Mingzhang, was my subordinate when I pacified Tibetan Province, but now he is on an equal footing with me. I calculated that the Northern Expedition was successful, and Heng Shuai must be rewarded for his merits, whether he can suppress these backward people in terms of military exploits, and govern the easy, everything depends on you! ”

"Commander, don't worry." Wang Zhanxu patted his chest and said: "I, Wang Zhanxu, will never disgrace the commander, I will definitely take Xiamen directly, defend Longhai to the death, and make meritorious contributions to the cause!" ”

Yang Sen nodded reassuringly, raised his hand and gave his brother a military salute: "Please!" ”

(To be continued)