The smoke obscured the sun, and although the weather was clear, the sky on the battlefield was always gray. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info war horses and soldiers' corpses are mixed together, and blood is flowing, so that the land that has been dry for many days can finally enjoy watering freely. The clothes of the dead corpses are very similar, and if you look at them, you will think that the dead are all from the same camp. But if you look closely, you will find that some of the dead corpses have an extra armed belt on their military uniforms, and the texture of the military uniforms is better than that of the dead bodies without armed belts.

Zhang Dingxun, commander of the border guards, held a telescope high to observe the situation of the target. Although it was more and less fighting, the battle process was not smooth, and the Lu army battle flag was still fluttering at the head of Guide City, and the defenders looked calm and not chaotic at all.

After a while, the defenders' weak forces actually launched an attack, launched a surprise attack with cavalry, and fought a confrontation with the attacker. The commanders of the border guards, all of whom graduated from military academies, did not have relevant introductions in their drill manuals, and they were suddenly disrupted. Although they still controlled the battlefield with a large number of troops, the plan to erect artillery positions fell through again, and even the artillery suffered heavy casualties. God knows where the cavalry is arranged, and it is obviously a mixed brigade and regiment unit, but it has never been able to effectively control the battlefield.

Zhang Dingxun shook his head and said: "The Shandong Cavalry Division is indeed worthy of its reputation. According to intelligence, they obviously only have one regiment of arms, and so many of our troops can't eat him. Henan Province is not in full control now, and even the territory under our control is showing an unstable trend, and the foreign officers are very dissatisfied with our performance. ”

"He's less than a ball! But if he had half the ability of the chief of staff of the Lu army, the battle would not have been fought like this. "Zhang Dingxun's deputy, Qi Shuming, is a classmate of the military academy with him, although he is the main master and the other party, but he doesn't have to care about any etiquette when he speaks. In the encounter just now, Qi Shuming came to the front line in person, and was slashed on the arm and wrapped in bandages, causing him to look like a Lu army with filial piety at first glance.

When a person is injured, he has a bad temper, and he doesn't care about other people around him, and scolds while smoking a cigarette

"Obviously, I have been practicing in the northwest for so long, and I have met with the horse team outside Rouran, but I don't know what happened this time, and they all became cowardly. As soon as the cavalry of the Lu army rushed over, our people only knew how to run, cut a few, and still couldn't hold it. If it weren't for the fact that there were few of them, we would have suffered a big loss. Those Tiele commanders, who usually have eyes to the sky, take higher military salaries than us, want to eat, drink, and ask for girls, and run after the big girls and little daughters-in-law, and when they get to the battlefield, except for shouting Ulla, and making the brothers rush upward, I don't see any great ability. When the cavalry rushed over, they ran just as fast, and what face did they have to scold us. ”

Zhang Dingxun looked at his old classmates and said helplessly: "Principal Jiang said at the beginning that Lu Jun is good at fighting, and we still don't believe it. It's useless to complain now, we have to find a way. We only have two mixed brigades in Henan, and it was not a problem to solve the Hongwu Army. But now, because Guide can't take it, the territory that was originally laid down is also unstable. Brother Bang Han has now become a firefighting team, going everywhere to suppress bandits, and our cadres are sent down to collect food and distribute money, but it is not smooth. The gentry and peasants are all watching our jokes, and if they don't take Guide, I'm afraid they won't be able to control the field in Henan. ”

"How? The defensive battle of the Lu army, as recorded in the textbooks, could not find any flaws at all. We don't have enough firepower right now, and it's hard to hold them down. Besides, they not only stored a large number of supplies in Guide City, but also obtained foreign aid, so as not to block their grain routes, this city is not easy to attack. ”

The reason why Guide has never been able to take it is that the Lu army is good at fighting on the one hand, and on the other hand, the troops opposite the border guards are not a regiment at all. At this time, the war relied heavily on the railway, and Guide, as an important railway node, had convenient transportation. Relying on the railway, at least five trains entered the city one after another, and God knows whether it was military supplies or reinforcements pulled on them.

On the other hand, although the attacker had the advantage of troops, the supply of materials was very tight, and there was a serious shortage of food, and the main force of the attack could only eat six points full.

The high temperature in Henan made the physical strength of the troops consume very quickly, and the supply of materials could not be helped, and the battle had no stamina. Zhao Fu is not highly regarded in Henan, and if he fights, the common people will help the border guards. However, the Lu army was very popular, and the Tiele officers did evil, which made the border guards have a bad reputation, and it was extremely difficult for the border guards to recruit Ding. Even if the bayonet is used to force the farmer to transport, the other party will also be passive and slack, and the efficiency is extremely poor.

The supplies could not be delivered, there was a shortage of ammunition and food on the front line, and the offensive of the troops would not last long, so they had to come down and rest.

On the contrary, the Lu army at the head of the city of Guide, relying on the railway, received supplies of vegetables and fruits, including watermelons, from the rear, and could not only defend the city, but also have the spare strength to launch a counter-assault. The frontier guards, a new force, from their own officers to their own ranks, lacked the experience of attacking such a strong fortress, and could not think of a good way for a while.

What worries Zhang Dingxun even more is that the fighting in the past few days has exposed the slow reaction speed of the troops, the lack of adaptability to fight according to the drill rules, and the low ability of white-knuckle warfare. These problems seriously affect the combat effectiveness of the troops, and some problems did not exist in the first place.

The border guards paid attention to bayonet training, and these soldiers dared to raise their bayonets against the galloping Wairouran horse team, and invited them to attack with white blades. But when they arrived in Guide, in the face of the Lu army's horse team, they could only shoot at a distance, and when the Lu army got close, they often collapsed.

The reason for this, he actually guessed, the border guards have no burden in the northwest, but now, they dare not work hard. After all, most of the soldiers are poor, and unlike these hot-blooded student officers who are dedicated to serving the country and wanting to save the country and strengthen the country by military, most grassroots soldiers are only for military salaries. If the great principles of national righteousness and the like are said, they will not listen to them. What they care about is military rations and salaries, as well as the security system.

The border guards treat active duty soldiers very well, but once they can't go into battle, they won't be supported. If you lose your source of livelihood and ability, you are likely to become a beggar or even starve to death when you return home. After Duan Zhiquan ordered the veterans who came to ask for resettlement fees with sabers, it was reasonable for these warriors to become cowardly.

Zhang Dingxun, like his cadres, are all graduates of the crash course of Baoding Military Academy, this school was run by Xu Youzheng, these people are considered protégés of the Son of Heaven, and they are treated very well. In addition, most of them have read foreign books, have ideas and ambitions, and do not take Lu Juntai seriously. With superior troops, he fought a stalemate with the Lu army, which made the pride of these days very dissatisfied. Especially when I learned that one of the commanders on the opposite side was still a flag man, I felt even more gloomy. A fully formed mixed brigade and a reinforced regiment can't beat a flag man?

Qi Shuming took two puffs of cigarette: "The troops in Guide City rely on the railway to get help, so we might as well blow up the railway for him." ”

"No, I have asked the upper peak, and the superior ordered that the railway should not be destroyed, otherwise it will definitely be done by military law!"

"Why? Didn't we redeem this railway right-of-way? Let's blow up our own railroad and get in the way. ”

"What do you know, the right of way was redeemed by the former chief Meng Siyuan. Now that Meng Siyuan has been shot, the correct policy towards him has to be changed. As soon as Zeng Yilang became the chief of transportation, he pressed the right of way to the foreigners. Relying on this mortgage, we will be paid a military salary. Now this section of the road is owned by the people of Albiang, and whoever dares to move a sleeper must beware of Albiang's serious protests. If it affects the loan, the lord in Beijing will not spare us. ”

Qi Shuming was silent, as an officer trained by the Duan Department, loyalty to the Duan Department is the minimum morality. However, as a soldier who is dedicated to serving the country, he feels that there seems to be something wrong with his choice. He threw away half of the cigarette in his mouth, and the military boots crushed the cigarette butt, as if this was the only way to calm his mood.

"Simply, use housekeeping tricks to recruit death squads." Qi Shuming gritted his teeth and said: "I personally led the charge of the team, you concentrated all the artillery fire to cover me, if you can't take Guide, I won't come back alive." At present, our troops can only control key cities in Henan, and in terms of the overall situation, we cannot effectively control the provinces. Once Zhao Fu's people turn against him, everyone will not have a good life. ”

Without waiting for Zhang Dingxun to give an order, a herald came from the rear on horseback, urging his mount and shouting: "Brigade seat, the capital is in an emergency!" ”

Qi Shuming took the telegram, only read it once, his face instantly changed like black iron, and he said angrily: "How can this be reasonable? We are about to take Henan entirely, why let us let it out now? What are those three Northwest Cavalry Divisions, nothing more than uniformed horse bandits. Killing, setting fires, and stealing things are all evil, I wanted to eliminate them a long time ago, and now I want us to give up the defensive ground, and I also want us to hand over the supplies, how can there be such a reason? ”

"No way, this is a righteous battle, not a military battle." Zhang Dingxun has already seen the clue: "Sun Xinshuai and Zhao Guanshuai have fought Bai Lang together in Shaanxi, and they can be regarded as having friendships." This time, he was willing to stand up for the Zhengfu instead of the Zhilu coalition army, which was already a blessing. Now send troops, of course, everything must take care of his emotions, otherwise he will turn his back on the government and throw himself into Lu, and our situation will not be good. In the city of Guide, a large number of materials were hoarded, and those northwest cavalry were armed beggars, and they fought to make a fortune! ”

The military order went around in the hands of several regiment commanders, and the most education these military academy graduates received in the army was obedience, and no one had the courage to disobey the orders of their superiors. Even Qi Shuming, who had the biggest opinions, could only hate and say: "Since they want to fight, let them fight." But the materiel cannot be handed over. All the good cannons were dragged away, and none of them were left behind. We don't have enough food for ourselves, and it is impossible for us to use it to help these people, but I want to see what these poor ghosts are doing to attack the city. ”

In the city of Guide, the actual structure of the troops is very chaotic, if you only look at the number, the strength of the defenders is actually far above the attacker. In addition to a regiment led by Long Yangjian and Hu Xiaolin, there are also two regiments led by Chang Desheng and his subordinates, Zhao Jie's guard regiment, and there are thirteen regiments in Henan, and then there are miscellaneous armed forces such as the security regiment, the tunken regiment, and the police inspection brigade that spontaneously came to support in Shandong Province. In terms of actual numbers, if you put these horses together, there are nearly three regiments.

However, objectively speaking, the actual combat effectiveness is still only based on a cavalry regiment of Long Yangjian, with the secondary troops of Shandong serving as the auxiliary, and as for the armed forces of Henan Province, they can only be the masters. Chang Desheng was born as a military general in the pre-Jin era, and he was also a veteran of the military world, and he was not very convinced, so he let Long Yangjian, a junior in charge of the overall situation. But after seeing the strength of the Lu army, he had to admit that the soldiers he brought were only worthy of being used as masters, and even the reserves were not enough.

Although it is not useful to fight, the identities of Zhao and Chang are still very useful. The two mixed brigades could not effectively control the entire Henan Province, and the three cavalry divisions of the Northwest Army regarded Henan as an enemy country because of differences in living habits and beliefs, and there was a great contradiction between the two sides. The originally neutral forces began to merge with the armed forces loyal to Zhao Fu.

They did not have the strength to confront the Anhui army head-on, but under the call of Zhao Jie, a large number of scattered troops began to move closer to the vicinity of Guide. The combat effectiveness of its troops is not worthy of dependence, and it is better to be familiar with both people and land, to fight guerrillas, and to harass the rear of the Anhui army, all of which can still be done.

Zhao Fu was storing supplies in Guide at the beginning, but in fact he was preparing to smuggle them in an official capacity and sell military supplies to both sides to make a fortune. Later, Chang Desheng took these materials as a condition in exchange for the Lu army to send troops, which was also a helpless move to protect himself. After all, there is Tusi and wealth, and only by keeping Henan can everyone continue to make a fortune.

Tiger Roaring Forest sent troops without an order, also with the purpose of making a fortune, but the battle has actually become a loss battle until now. In order to keep the return to Germany, the value of the soldiers and materials continuously transported by the Lu army has exceeded the value of the materials for the return to Germany. Hu Xiaolin knew in his heart that he had hit the iron plate this time, and if he couldn't make some achievements, even if he had ten grids to take care of him, he was afraid that he would have to be dismissed.

The battle must be fought big! He silently made a decision in his heart, and he ruthlessly turned into a betrayal and paid the army a military salary with his own private property. With this money, the morale of the defenders was boosted, and he used the telegraph office in Guide to send a telegram to Shandong

"Outside the city of Guide, a large number of Anhui troops were found to be assembled, and there seems to be a major military operation......

When the telegram was sent, Tiger Roaring Lin secretly gritted his teeth: whether it is a dragon or a worm, it depends on this one.

The retreat of the border guards was very methodical, even if Long Yangjian judged that the other side might be evacuating from the shrinking position, but he did not dare to pursue, after all, the capital at hand was too small, and a large number of troops were making up the amount to eat food, and what they could really fight was their own backbone troops, and they couldn't fight the other party if they took it out.

But Long Yangjian, who was trained by the Shandong Military Academy, did not simply treat these troops as waste. During this period of fighting, he consciously mixed the troops, led the servants with the backbone, and selected the potential backbone from among them and focused on training.

The Lu army has abundant food and salary, which is also extremely attractive to these troops. Henan's provincial army was also willing to accept the command of the Lu army, and the training system of the Lu army was very effective in training new soldiers. Long Yangjian is ready to take advantage of the enemy's handover period to seize the time to train, and strive to make these servant troops become qualified cannon fodder before the arrival of the enemy's new troops.

Just three days later, when Long Yangjian was playing these soldiers on the playground, Hu Xiaolin rushed into the playground with an excited look on his face.

"Good news, Baoding called, the division came up in person this time!"

"What did you say?" Long Yangjian cooperated well with this flag man, and his face was also happy, "You mean, Shizuo?" ”

"That's right, this is a telegram from Baoding, there will be no difference. The division personally brought the brothers of the cavalry division to prove that not only will we not be held accountable for fighting the Anhui army without authorization, but they will also support us! This time it's going to be a big battle. ”

Sun Meiyao was able to go to Guide in person, which was something that even Zhao Jie couldn't imagine, and after hearing the news, his first thought was that he should go. One mountain does not tolerate two tigers, and since Sun Meiyao has arrived, the command should be relinquished. On the contrary, it was Chang Desheng who stopped his action

"No matter how strong the Lu army is, it is also a guest army, and we are the master in Henan. If you leave now, people will still think that you are a man of temperament and pick a child, but that is not beautiful. Stay, Shandong needs a tablet, so let's take a good tablet and make a good start for Lu Jun. You have also seen the situation, Shandong has won Henan, and we can still keep our wealth. If the Anhui army wins, we can't even keep our family property, who should we support, I don't need to say more, right? ”

Baoding, in the headquarters of the Zhilu coalition army, Yuqing, who was dressed in military uniform, sent the information at hand to Zhao Guanhou. "Opposite Sun Meiyao, there are two mixed brigades, three northwest cavalry divisions, plus 50,000 Shaanxi troops. Even if her cavalry division was covered in iron, how many nails could it hit? Are you really willing to send her out? ”

Zhao Guanhou said: "The two mixed brigades and the three Northwest Cavalry Divisions can be beaten by Mei Yao, but the really difficult one to deal with is the 50,000 Shaanxi army." Didn't I arrange reinforcements, though? ”

"The Fifth Division of the Provincial Army is mainly composed of Shaanxi people. Township party to township party, aren't you afraid that they will defect before the battle? Widow Yang and Sun Meiyao may not be harmonious, in case she intends to cheat people, Sun Meiyao can do it. Even with the addition of the Fifth Division, there are still not enough men. Wu Ziyu has a lot of opinions on your arrangement, thinking that you are throwing your life at risk, and is proposing to form a headquarters of the Western Route Army to fight a large-scale battle in Henan. ”

Zhao Guanhou shook his head and said, "There's no point in fighting there. Those are all Anhui affiliated armies, and if you defeat them, there will not be much loss to the Anhui army. Our enemy is the frontal Anhui army. The establishment of their 12 frontier divisions is our great enemy. In the 10,000-horse army, the head of Yuan Rong was beheaded, and the rest collapsed without a fight. Besides, I brought a secret weapon to Yuzhu to extinguish the Shaanxi army and take care of the affairs. We have only one goal: to take the capital! ”