After sending Chen Zhuo away, Zhuang Jihua frantically urged the departments to build fortifications, in just one day, the trenches inside and outside the Niuhang station were vertical and horizontal, and the hidden forts were lined up, as the waiting room of the core position, the dispatch room was surrounded by dense firepower points, the windows and walls were all reinforced, and all the rooms were opened. Three lines of defense were built in front of the station, and three lines of defense were also built on both wings, and thanks to those railway workers, these cadres of the Nanxun Railway General Union joined the army of fortifications, in order to prevent the enemy from attacking the station with ironclad cars, the five miles of railroad tracks in front of the railway were all demolished, and all the tracks were transported back to the station as building materials.

When Zhuang Jihua was inspecting the fortifications of the second battalion on the hill of the second battalion, Song Yunfei came to him with the chief of staff of the second regiment, and it turned out that Sun Yuanliang was very puzzled by Cheng Qian's sending him to attack Lehua, how could only three regiments be left in the city, Nanchang was not a small county town like Xiushui and copper drums, and the three regiments were not even satisfied with the city wall.

"What did Senior Commander Wang say?" Zhuang Jihua asked Ma Zhancun, chief of staff of the Second Regiment.

"We didn't find Master Wang." Ma Zhancun replied honestly.

Zhuang Jihua suspected that he had misheard and did not find Wang Bailing, he looked at Ma Zhancun suspiciously, and the latter hurriedly explained: "After Master Wang entered the city, he went out with the representatives of the Miao Party, and he never returned to the division headquarters, and we searched everywhere but couldn't find it. Commander-in-Chief Cheng also sent people to look for him, but he couldn't find it. We, we doubt.... ”

"Suspect he ran away?" Zhuang Jihua added for him, then shook his head and said, "Not yet, at least he won't run yet." In this way, I will write a letter to Commander Sun, you bring it back, and you tell Commander Sun that this is not a formal order, and if he wants to, he will do it, and if he is unwilling, I will not blame him. ”

Zhuang Jihua wrote a letter to Sun Yuanliang on the stone table of the small temple, in which he concealed Zhu Peide's judgment that he would not come to help, but only analyzed the current situation under the city of Nanchang, and told him that if it was unfavorable to attack Lehua, he suggested that he should not retreat to Nanchang, but retreat westward, but also not too far away from the Nanxun line, just cruising on the Nanxun line, disturbing Lu Xiangting's back road.

"I hope he can help." Zhuang Jihua looked at Ma Zhancun who was going away and sighed, and Yu Chengwan said disdainfully: "It is better to count on Sun Yuanliang than to count on Xue Yue, it is possible to lead the army to retreat westward, but it is impossible not to stay away from the Nanxun line." ”

Zhuang Jihua smiled bitterly in his heart, Sun Yuanliang's reputation among the first batch of classmates was not very good, mainly because of the suspicion of taking the merit to receive rewards in the battle of Huizhou, in fact, he also hoped that it was Xue Yue, at least Xue Yue was better than Sun Yuanliang in the war.

"Xue Yue can't count on it, he's in the city, it's good to come out alive." Zhuang Jihua said helplessly: "Alas, where did you say Master Wang went?" Why can't he be found in the city? ”

"It shouldn't be that he ran away," Yu Chengwan agreed with Zhuang Jihua's opinion on this issue, the battle hadn't been fought yet, how could he run: "Did you go to the kiln?" ”

"enough to get this one?" Zhuang Jihua was a little skeptical: "At the end of this day, do you think you will die of exhaustion?" If this were the case, it would be a great miracle in the history of the Northern Expedition. ”

Yu Chengwan frowned and said very hard: "Cultural Revolution, is it good for you to spare me, now is not the time to joke." ”

Looking at his appearance, Zhuang Jihua couldn't help laughing, and Yu Chengwan couldn't help but be happy.

Nanchang quickly lost, causing Sun Chuanfang's thunder rage, he strictly ordered Deng Ruzhuo to immediately counterattack Nanchang, Deng Ruzhuo was unwilling to counterattack Nanchang, he transferred Nanchang troops to the purpose of wanting to give up Nanchang, the second and third armies in Jiangxi in the offensive tide, he fought Pingxiang, then Yifeng, three battles Xinyu, the battle was lost, the troops lost a lot, but Lu Xiangting was stationed on the Nanxun line, and was reluctant to go south to reinforce, which made him deeply puzzled, he thought that Lu Xiangting was not to reinforce Jiangxi, but to seek to seize Jiangxi. It was to use the hand of the Northern Expeditionary Army to weaken the Jiangxi troops and create conditions for him to seek the Jiangxi overseers in the future. Deng Ruzhuo is not Sun Chuanfang's descendant, and politically he also swayed between Sun Chuanfang and Wu Peifu, and Wu Peifu did not make a comeback at that time when he participated in the five-province coalition army, so he was always worried that after his strength was exhausted, he would be replaced by Sun Chuanfang, so he called Sun Chuanfang back and said that Zhu Peide was attacking Zhangshu fiercely, and he could not draw troops from the front line, so he asked Lu Xiangting to send troops to counterattack Nanchang and reinforce Zhangshu at the same time. Sun Chuanfang called back and told him that Lu Xiangting had sent Zheng Junyan's 10th Division and Yang Genghe's Reading Brigade to counterattack Nanchang, and asked him to cooperate with Zheng Junyan and Yang Genghe's actions, but Deng Ruzhuo was still unwilling, and repeatedly emphasized in the telegram that Zhu Peide was attacking fiercely and he could not draw up his troops. This made Sun Chuanfang angry, and he didn't say much, and gave Deng Ruzhuo a word: "Recapture Nanchang within the eighteenth disappearance, otherwise the military law will be ruthless." ”

Sun Chuanfang this person is moody, often smiling and killing, Deng Ruzhuo did not dare to bargain anymore, immediately organized troops to counterattack Nanchang, he left only two brigades to defend Zhangshu, the rest of the troops 17,000 people all went to Nanchang, Deng Ruzhuo ordered to conquer Nanchang, did not help the military discipline three said, all the officers were promoted to one level, and finally in order to better encourage morale, Deng Ruzhuo hemorrhage, military pay for three months. As soon as Deng Ruzhuo's military order was given, the whole army was thunderous with joy and full of fighting spirit.

In addition to transferring troops from Zhangshu, Deng Ruzhuo also ordered Jiang Zhenchen, Yang Chisheng, Xie Wenshan, and others in Fuzhou and Jinxian to attack Nanchang from the south.

Yang Genghe lost a regiment before he knew that Niuhang Station had been occupied by the Northern Expeditionary Army, which made him extremely angry, deeply dissatisfied with Lu Xiangting, and refused to serve as a striker again, Lu Xiangting had no way to take him, Yang Genghe was a subordinate of Lu Yongxiang, the former Anhui general, who was incorporated by Sun Chuanfang after the Jiangsu-Zhejiang War, his troops were all old Zhejiang soldiers, and he was the capital of his painstaking management, and now he gave others a regiment at a time, how did he not feel heartache.

Lu Xiangting had no choice but to take Zheng Junyan as the striker, Zheng Junyan naturally would not refuse, he was Sun Chuanfang's old subordinate, and the troops he led were Sun Chuanfang's descendants. Therefore, Zheng Junyan's car transport Lehua assembly, but also the Northern Expeditionary Army's bad luck, Zheng Junyan's department has just been assembled, the 17th Division and Sun Yuanliang's regiment crossed the mountains and mountains to Lehua outside the city, launched an attack on Lehua, the 17th Division nearly 5,000 people, Sun Yuanliang's regiment more than 1,000 people, the result of the attack on more than 10,000 people in the 10th Division is not asked, both equipment and numbers are far apart, the 10th Division is Sun Chuanfang's main force, the equipment is excellent, there are as many as 12 cannons alone, Sun Yuanliang saw that things were not good, and immediately pulled out his legs and left, but he forgot to inform the 17th Division before leaving, As a result, the 17th Division was outflanked by Zheng Junyan, the troops were scattered, three regiment commanders were killed, one was wounded, two were wounded, and the division commander Deng Yanhua was also shot in the arm. Deng Yanhua led the team to retreat westward, holding a grudge against Sun Yuanliang along the way.

Sun Yuanliang led the team to retreat to the west, this retreat retreated to Fengxin, Chief of Staff Ma Zhancun reminded him not to stay away from the Nanxun line, Sun Yuanliang scoffed: "Didn't the Cultural Revolution say, if it is feasible, it will work, if it is not feasible, it will not work, there are many enemy troops on the Nanxun line, what can I do with a regiment?" ”

"Regiment commander, if we retreat, Lu Xiangting can attack Nanchang with all his strength, and the Niuhang Station guarded by the Cultural Revolution will bear the brunt, and he has only one regiment there, can he stop it? I think what he meant was for us to harass the Nanxun line so that the enemy could not attack with all his might. Ma Zhancun persuaded him bitterly, he graduated from the second phase of Whampoa, and he was able to serve as the chief of staff of the regiment with the qualifications of the second phase of the student, which shows that he is outstanding.

Sun Yuanliang hesitated, although Zhuang Jihua said it very politely, the meaning can be seen completely, but what Sun Yuanliang is worried about is not this, but... Consequence.

If Zhuang Jihua comes out of Niuhang Station alive, if he learns that he abandoned him and fled later, with Zhuang Jihua's connections in the Whampoa department and Chiang Kai-shek's weight,..., he wants to take revenge, let alone the future, I am afraid that it will be difficult to save his life.

Sun Yuanliang stopped and frowned: "Then what do you mean...?" ”

Seeing this, Ma Zhancun knew that his heart was moved, and he hurriedly stepped forward: "Humble suggestion, we will swim between Lehua and Yongxiu, fight the weak but not the strong, and destroy the railway transportation." In this way, the enemy must divide his forces to protect the railway, and he will not be able to attack Nanchang with all his strength. ”

"Fight the weak not the strong; If the enemy is weak, he will fight, and if the enemy is strong, he will not fight, and Lehua will only be dozens of miles away from Yongxiu, and it can't be a strong enemy everywhere. Well, okay, let's do it," Sun Yuanliang stopped: "Order the troops to stop turning back, and we will go to Lehua again." ”

Sun Yuanliang's fear made him escape Chiang Kai-shek's severe punishment after the war, and then got a chance to go east to study in this book.

After Zheng Junyan defeated Deng Yanhua and Sun Yuanliang, he immediately drove his troops over Gouzi Mountain and Chaotianling, and that night the forward Liu Yixuan's regiment arrived at Jiaoqiao Station, which was more than ten miles away from Niuhang Station.

In the middle of the night, the gunfire at Jiaoqiao Station was loud, Song Xiongfu commanded a battalion, the soldiers were divided into three routes, and entered the station from the south, east and west. In the firelight, the sound of killing shook the sky, the figures shuttled, the officers and soldiers of the first battalion opened the way with white blades, shot from a distance and picked up at a close range, without giving Sun Jun a breathing time, the regiment commander Liu Yixuan was not allowed to dress, carried a gun, and commanded the guards to launch a blockade, and Chang Jianshi, the commander of a company who replaced Chao Guojun, led the troops to rely on the obstacles to shoot at the enemy. Not long after, after the second company led by Song Xiongfu personally killed and dispersed the enemy on the left flank, he rushed over from the flank, and the enemy's hastily organized defense line immediately collapsed, Liu Yixuan fled under the cover of the guards, and the enemy who lost his command was even more chaotic. Song Xiongfu divided his troops again, outflanked the past from the left and right sides, and by dawn, Jiaoqiao's night attack won a complete victory.

"Damn, I really don't need to be beaten." Song Xiongfu looked at the captives shivering in the cold wind and spat in disdain. Last night's attack was Zhuang Jihua's decision under a wit, Liu Yixuan stationed in Jiaoqiao not long after, Zhuang Jihua got the scout's report, he asked the details of Jiaoqiao and immediately decided to attack at night, Song Xiongfu had already held back the fire, and the first battalion was used as a rear guard when attacking Niuhang Station, which made him very dissatisfied, after hearing about the night attack plan, he immediately asked to give him the task, Zhuang Jihua wanted to send him, and he agreed to push the boat. also blamed Liu Yixuan for being too careless, and the soldiers were too tired, and only a clear post was arranged outside the station, but it was easily touched by the first battalion. After entering the station, it was discovered in front of the second sentry post.

As Sun Chuanfang's descendant troops, they are indeed well-equipped, with more than 20 machine guns of various kinds, including seven or eight new Czech-made ZB26 machine guns, in addition to nearly 100 portable machine guns, and two mortars. After cleaning up the battlefield, he quickly returned with his captives.

Song Xiongfu's night attack made Zheng Junyan abandon his arrogance and become cautious, which caused Lu Xiangting's dissatisfaction, Lu Xiangting was because Sun Chuanfang sent him the sentence to Deng Ruzhuo, but Zheng Junyan felt that the first group of Niuhang Station was a bone that was not easy to gnaw, so he played a trick again, and suggested to Lu Xiangting that the Tenth Division should cross the river from Shengmi Street and attack Nanchang from Zhangjiang Gate, anyway, Sun Chuanfang said that he would take Nanchang in eighteen hours, and did not ask for Niuhang Station, so that Yang Genghe's Reading Brigade monitored Niuhang Station, Lu Xiangting accepted Zheng Junyan's opinion, and then thought that this first regiment had eaten his two regiments silently, and it would be too cheap to let him go like this, so a telegram caught up with Zheng Junyan, who was about to turn, and asked him to leave a regiment to Yang Genghe to command, and the order to Yang Genghe was changed from surveillance to siege.

Zheng Junyan swore an oath in Jiaoqiao, and he escorted Liu Yixuan, the head of the forward regiment, to the front of the army, counted the culpability of Liu Yixuan's defeat, and announced that Liu Yixuan would correct the law on the spot and correct military discipline. Poor Liu Yixuan, he finally escaped from Song Xiongfu's butcher's knife, but he didn't expect that he couldn't escape Zheng Junyan's butcher's knife, and he sacrificed the flag alive.

Liu Yixuan's head shocked the whole division, and the officers and men all knew that it was time to give their lives, and they would kill the officers before they fought, and the regiment commander would be the commander if they were killed.

After killing Liu Yixuan, Zheng Junyan learned from Deng Ruzhuo's promise that after breaking Nanchang, he would lift the military law and let the officers and soldiers loot, which made the whole division thunderous.

After the killing and encouragement was completed, eighteen hours had passed six hours, Zheng Junyan crossed the Ganjiang River from Shengmi Street overnight, and then immediately launched an offensive to Zhangjiangmen, and found a large group of people from Nanchang City in chaos halfway through, Zheng Jun's forward immediately launched an offensive, the group of people was caught off guard, and immediately scattered and fled, most of them turned over and fled back to Nanchang City, Zheng Jun then pursued, Zheng Junyan was very strange, these people did not stay in the city, ran out to do something, interrogated the prisoners to know, this is the troops of the 19th Division of the Sixth Army, Cheng Qian has already decided to give up Nanchang.

Cheng Qian's decision came too late, and he couldn't leave now if he wanted to.

After Deng Ruzhuo's counteroffensive was launched, Cheng Qian found that he was surrounded by Sun's army on three sides in Nanchang, Jiang Zhenchen and others in the south, Deng Ruzhuo in the west, Zheng Junyan and Yang Genghe in the north, Sun Chuanfang mobilized nearly 50,000 troops to counterattack Nanchang, at this moment Cheng Qian deeply regretted that he should not have gone south; After occupying Nanchang, you should not divide your troops to attack everywhere, even if the whole army stays in the city, it can support it for a while.

"What about Zhu Peide? What is Zhu Peide doing? Why didn't he attack? Yang Jie angrily tapped on the map on the table.

"Geng Guang, don't you understand? He is waiting for Deng Ruzhuo to eliminate us before he can become the chairman of Jiangxi Province. Cheng Qian cried and said with a sad face, the regret in his heart, why didn't he expect Zhu Peide to stand still.

Yang Jie is also a smart person and immediately understands the stakes. I figured it out, but how to solve the current dilemma? Yang Jie was full of apologies for Cheng Qian, if it weren't for his encouragement, Cheng Qian would not have made up his mind to go south, and there would be no difficulty today.

"Song Gong, it seems that we can only go to Deng's shop, protruding from the south." Tang Python suggested tentatively, but in fact he was not sure.

Cheng Qian and Yang Jie looked at each other, they both saw helplessness in each other's eyes, no one was sure whether they could go out of this road or not.

"Okay, let's go to Deng's shop."

So the most shameless incident in the Northern Expedition happened, Cheng Qian led the military headquarters and the 19th Division to flee to Dengjiapu, he did not send someone to inform the 56th Regiment that was building the city fortifications, nor did he send someone to inform the 3rd Regiment of the 1st Division in Zhangjiangmen, let alone the 55th Regiment that blocked Deng Ruzhuo in Nanguan, but left a note in the military headquarters, which was clearly written, let them go to Dengjiapu to concentrate, but whether they could see this note was not his problem.

The gunshots in Nanguan and the noise in the city finally alarmed Wang Bailing and Miao Bin in the Phoenix Palace, and really let Yu Chengwan say, after these two people entered Nanchang, they slipped into this courtyard, where they drank flower wine, played cards, and slept, as if the world was too peaceful, and the only thing that didn't happen was the death of the exhausted people.

The two of them lifted their pants and hurriedly ran to Cheng Qian's headquarters, and when they saw the note that Cheng Qian left on the table, the two of them suddenly struck like lightning, Zhuang Jihua's words originally made Wang Bailing have some vigilance, but on the one hand, he lost the depression of the chairman of Jiangxi Province, and on the other hand, the hunger and thirst of the body; Let him throw Zhuang Jihua's words out of the clouds, and now all the worries by the Ganjiang River have become a reality, Wang Bailing is at a loss and cries on the spot. Miao Bin was anxious: "When is this, what are you crying about, don't you hurry up." After speaking, he picked up Wang Bailing and ran towards Jinxianmen.

Soon after they went out, Zhang Zhen, the commander of the 56th Regiment, felt that the situation in the city was not right, and rushed back to the military headquarters to understand the situation.

After Xue Yue received Zhang Zhen's report at Zhangjiangmen, he did not panic but picked up the map to study the enemy's situation, and he quickly concluded that Deng Jiapu could not break out, and he said to Chief of Staff Xi Nuping: "The only way to survive is to the north, Zhuang Wenge has a prescient name." ”

"But will Lu Xiangting let go of Niuhang Station?" Xi Nuping asked suspiciously. He was an officer of the former Jianguo Sichuan Army, and after graduating from Whampoa, he joined the Third Regiment as chief of staff.

"Between Cheng Qian and Zhuang Wenge, I choose Zhuang Wenge, what about you?" Xue Yue was very confident.

Xi Nuping thought for a while and said, "I also choose Zhuang Cultural Revolution." ”

"Then what else do you say, gather the troops, and cross the river at the victory gate."

Xue Yue led his troops to leave Zhangjiang Gate, collected 17 boats outside Desheng Gate, made 10 round trips, and transported the troops across the Ganjiang River. After crossing the river, Xue Yue ordered all the boats to be scuttled.

Xue Yue's judgment was very accurate, before Cheng Qian reached Dengjiapu, the 57th Regiment retreated from Dengjiapu. Cheng Qian was dumbfounded, now it is impossible to go back to defend the city, the morale of the army completely collapsed, Tang Python immediately suggested that the 57th Regiment should protect Cheng Qian to cross the river by Shengmi Street.

Under the escort of the 57th Regiment of Cheng Qian, he walked to the city of Nanchang again, and met Zhang Zhen's 56th Regiment on the way, and soon the 55th Regiment also came.

The entire 19th Division and the headquarters of the 6th Army marched towards Shengmi Street, which was their only way to survive. It's just that this road doesn't work.

Outside the Zhangjiang Gate, the 55th Regiment of the avant-garde did not have time to react, it was successfully attacked by Zheng Junyan, the 55th Regiment was already fighting extremely hard in Nanguan, and the people were already sleepy and tired, this attack broke the soldiers' psychological defense line, the soldiers retreated one after another, and the regiment commander Wang Yinxi also wanted to organize a counterattack at the end, a bullet hit his forehead, and he was killed on the spot.

The rout of the 55th Regiment prepared the 56th and 57th Regiments that were walking behind, and Zheng Junyan's happy march began to become difficult.

Taking advantage of the desperate resistance of his loyal and brave subordinates, Cheng Qian took the military headquarters and the headquarters of the 19th Division to move towards the Victory Gate, and he remembered that Xue Yue was still in the Victory Gate. When they arrived at the victory gate, they found that Xue Yue had left, and what was even worse was that they searched all along the river but did not find a boat. Of course they couldn't find it, Xue Yue had already driven them all to the other side, and then scuttled all the boats, and played a trick for Cheng Qian, making Cheng Qian cry when he looked at the river.

"We can't get out of this way." Tang Python looked at the appearance of everyone who had nothing to do, and first made a suggestion: "I suggest that the whole be broken into parts, and everyone will disperse to break through." ”

Breaking into pieces is a nice term, but it is actually synonymous with disbanding on the spot, a beautiful coat.

"It seems that this is the only way, after breaking through, go to Fengxin to concentrate." Cheng Qian ordered with a low face. Then he and Yang Jie went west with two guards, and the rest of the people looked left and right, and scattered with a bang.

Cheng Qian finally disguised himself as a peasant and walked out of the encirclement under the cover of an old peasant, but his temperament was too outstanding, in order to be more like a peasant, he had to take off his beautiful beard, put on a peasant outfit, got on an ox cart, and staged a modern version of cutting his beard and changing his robe.

After Wang Bailing fled back to Nanchang, he hid in the Phoenix Palace, and those girls hid him very righteously, and only escaped from Nanchang a few days later, but in the face of such a situation, he did not dare to go back to see Chiang Kai-shek, he fled back to his hometown in Jiangsu, and since then he has been separated from the military circles.

Miao Bin was separated from Wang Bailing on the road, he didn't expect Wang Bailing to go back to the Phoenix Palace, he took his guards out of the city from Hue Gate, failed to get out, and then he returned to the city and hid in the Wanshou Palace, the monks in the temple protected him, in order to commemorate this escape, he has since left a bald head.

The 56th and 57th regiments, which resisted desperately, were finally dispersed, Zhang Zhen led his troops to retreat to the victory gate, and finally fled to Qili Street, where he collected three small boats, and the three small boats could not transport the remaining six or seven hundred people across the Ganjiang River, and he had to disperse and break through. Zhang Zhen and two soldiers drove a small boat across Poyang Lake, arrived at Jiujiang, and returned to Wuhan by boat in Jiujiang.

The most tragic is the head of Wang Maoquan, he led people to retreat into the city, and in the city with Deng Ruzhuo and Zheng Junyan, who entered the city from Nanguan, to fight from the west of the city to the east of the city, and from the east of the city to the south of the city, and finally died in front of the old Fantai Yamen.

By four o'clock in the afternoon, the organized resistance in Nanchang City was completely ended, Deng Ruzhuo and Zheng Junyan fulfilled their promise, the soldiers of the two armies looted in Nanchang City, Zheng Junyan and Deng Ruzhuo leisurely climbed the Tengwang Pavilion, admired the beautiful Poyang Lake and the miserable cry of the city, looked around the entire Nanchang area, and only one place was left in the hands of Sun Jun, that is, Niuhang Station, where the First Regiment of the First Division of the Northern Expeditionary Army was guarding.

Behind this regiment is the Ganjiang River, surrounded on three sides, east, west and north, and the nearest reinforcements are south of Zhangshu, two days away from Niuhang Station, and there is still no situation where Deng Ruzhuo is blocked.

Lu Xiangting thought that he could take Niuhang Station in two days, Zheng Junyan thought that he could eliminate this lone army within one day, Sun Chuanfang only glanced at the warship on the Jiujiang River and turned his attention to northern Jiangxi, experience told him that this regiment would disappear soon, and in northern Jiangxi, the Seventh Army led by Li Zongren was entering Jiangxi from Ruichang, and he planned to perform a show in northern Jiangxi to invite the king into the urn, or catch turtles in the urn, and annihilate the Seventh Army, one of the three main forces of the Northern Expeditionary Army, in northern Jiangxi, just like the regiment at Niuhang Station.

Sometimes, however, experience is inaccurate and wrong. For example, what happened at the Niuhang Station in late September 1926 was a miracle that was later regarded as the most tragic battle of the Northern Expedition.

(To be continued)